METAIRIE, La. -- An agent speaking on behalf of New Orleans Saints linebacker Ronald Powell shot down an Outside the Lines report involving Powell's past run-ins with the law as "a gross mischaracterization of facts and example of an absolute witch hunt."
The two incidents were identified in a larger OTL investigation on how alleged crimes of college athletes are prosecuted. One involved a traffic stop in which small pieces of cocaine were found in the rental car Powell was driving in 2014, after he had been drafted by the Saints. The other involved a verbal confrontation with a store owner in 2012. In both cases, the former Florida player was let off with a warning.
"He wasn't given preferential treatment; he was profiled," agent Peter Schaffer told NOLA.com of the more recent incident, adding that it was absurd to believe police let Powell go after finding cocaine in his car.
Powell and Schaffer did not respond to requests for an interview at the time OTL was reporting on Powell.
Asked about the report during minicamp Tuesday, Powell said he's been dealing with its aftermath.
"For one, it was a non-issue then, and it's a non-issue now," he said. "The only issue I have with it is it's something where everybody that's stood for me, everybody I stand for, all my family and all my little cousins and people that see that, it's very unfortunate. It's like I'm trying to set a good example for them, and I'm trying to be the best big cousin or the best uncle, whatever it may be, best son. And for something like that to come out is kind of hard.
"The story, for one, was saying how guys are getting special treatment or whatever it may be. And I feel like in that case, it was a situation where something like that went totally the wrong way, and I was a part of it."
Schaffer told ESPN that he began representing Powell last week but did not offer further comment.
According to the police report, Powell was stopped by a Gainesville police officer for a traffic violation and the officer noted that the address on Powell's driver's license was a known drug house. After a canine officer flagged a likely presence of narcotics in the car, the investigating officer found "small pieces" of a substance later identified as cocaine.
However, the car was a rental and the ID of a known drug offender was found in the car. The officer wrote in the report that she did not believe the cocaine was Powell's and let Powell go with a verbal warning for a lane violation.
Schaffer told NOLA.com that police tried to badger Powell into admitting he had drugs in the car and were frustrated when he repeatedly denied it.
"He did everything by the book," said Schaffer, who added that the overall tone of the ESPN report was unfair to student-athletes, forcing them to essentially prove their innocence even when they haven't been arrested or charged with a crime.
"ESPN shouldn't be targeting innocent players who did nothing wrong," Schaffer said.
The other incident occurred when Powell allegedly started yelling at and threatening the owner of a local store who wouldn't give him items for free in addition to others he had planned to purchase. The owner claimed that Powell believed he should get free stuff just because he played football for Florida.
Powell confirmed that he was upset with the owner and yelled at him. But Powell explained in the report that the owner had previously agreed to give him rails to go along with two beds he had purchased and did not honor the agreement. Powell was given a trespass warning.