In this Intelligence Report: A new indictment describes Hurd's cocaine and marijuana business as bigger than we were first told.
When Sam Hurd was supposed to be running with the ball for the Chicago Bears, he was also running a larger drug operation than first alleged, according to a federal grand jury indictment handed up in Texas, where Hurd is from.
Authorities there have now connected several suspected drug operatives to Hurd, including his cousin, who has just been named in a superseding indictment which lays out a scheme broader than originally charged.
When Bears wide receiver Sam Hurd was arrested last December in the parking lot of a suburban steakhouse, federal authorities say, he had just consummated a lucrative deal to take delivery on as many as 10 kilos of cocaine and 1,000 pounds of marijuana per week.
According to the newly filed indictment, Hurd's cousin Jesse Chavful was one of the drug operation's top lieutenants. At that time, federal agents apparently hadn't fully unwound the chain of command, and they say the 45-year-old Chavful -- living in San Antonio -- continued going about his business of securing and distributing large quantities of cocaine and marijuana.
When Chavful was arrested at a San Antonio business earlier this month, he was wearing a Sam Hurd football jersey.
Now, Hurd's cousin is housed at the Seagoville Federal Prison near Dallas, the arrest having violated his probation from a previous drug conviction. He and his cousin are scheduled to go on trial in Texas August 6.
Sam Hurd is free on bond. The one-time standout for the Northern Illinois Huskies had to post $100,000 cash.
A third co-defendant is also on bond awaiting trial.
Four other drug suspects from California who have been connected to Hurd are charged separately.
