Free Pros and Cons by Don Yaeger, Jeff Benedict Page B

fits. Cincinnati is great for him. I’m glad he’s here and not in L.A., Chicago, or New York. When a young kid is trying to be born again, this is a great place to be.”
    Sounds like Roberts knew a little more about Dillon than he was telling the Bengals’ beat writers.
    As it turns out, he did. Not only did Roberts have extensive firsthand knowledge of Dillon from college and high school, but Bengals running backs coach Jim Anderson had traveled to Seattle before the draft and conducted his own thorough investigation into Dillon’s past. “Jim Anderson knew all there was to know about Corey Dillon,” explained Roberts in an interview for this book. “He had done all the reporting on all his behavior on field and off the field. Jim Anderson had gone to the ‘hood of Seattle to find out about him. So he knew all the information that I had known. He got records from the high school. He went to the police stations. Some things he couldn’t get ahold of because Corey was under age at the time. But he talked to the kids around the neighborhood.
    “And Jim’s report was that there were some early childhood things, but that all the other people hadn’t had any hassles with him. So Jim was more than willing to draft him. His exact words were, ‘He’s the real deal physically and we should take a chance on him.’ This kid was an okay kid. And it’s not taking that big of a chance because the kid hadn’t gotten in any trouble lately. I mean, he had little ruffles on the edge and he needed some smoothing out like all kids do, but he hadn’t got into any of that drug-related stuff lately.”
    Lately?
    In an attempt to learn what the Bengals knew but weren’t saying, the authors spent a week in Seattle interviewing law enforcement officials, court officers, and criminal records managers. Most of the time, however, was spent culling through files and digging through archives at four courthouses (the City of Seattle Municipal Court, the Seattle District Court, the Seattle Superior Court, and the King County Juvenile Court).
    At the municipal court, which handles misdemeanors and traffic violations committed within the city itself, a records supervisor confirmed that Dillon had five cases on file, three of which were driving offenses. The files for the two nontraffic cases included a May 21, 1994, charge in a four-count case that included reckless endangerment and resisting arrest (both of which were dropped as part of a plea bargain), assault (which he pleaded guilty to and was issued a “no contact order” against the victim), and obstructing a public officer, to which he pleaded guilty. The file also included a June 13, 1994, charge of theft. The case was later dismissed on condition that Dillon refrain from further violating the law.
    The district court, which handles all misdemeanors committed in King County (other than those committed within the city proper) contained no records on Corey Dillon.
    The superior court, which handles all felonies committed in King County, had one case on file against Dillon. On September 21, 1992, he was indicted for second-degree malicious mischief. Michelle Reed, a former girlfriend of Dillon’s, reported to police that on June 8, 1992, Dillon confronted her and some friends after she drove into an AM/PM gas station to fill up just after midnight. According to a letter Reed wrote to the court dated June 9, 1992, Dillon came up to her car and began berating Reed and her girlfriends who were in her car. Referring to them as “bitches,” Dillon started an argument with Reed. When she called him “bitch” back, Dillon opened the driver’s side door and threatened her.
    “What, what,” he said, challenging her.
    “I didn’t ever say anything,’ Reed replied in fear.
    “Yeah, that’s what I thought.”
    Dillon then vandalized the car while the girls were inside it. More than $700 damage was done before Dillon stopped and threatened to throw a rock at them.
    The charge was