| | Associated Press
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Star kicker Sebastian Janikowski is
unlikely to be deported even if convicted on charges of possession
of the "date-rape" drug.
Immigration and Naturalization Service officials said Thursday
that a resident alien with five years' residency, such as
Janikowski, probably would not face deportation until a second drug
offense.
|  | | Sebastian Janikowski was selected 17th overall by the Raiders. |
Janikowski, a Polish citizen who starred at Florida State and
was the Oakland Raiders' No. 1 draft choice this spring, has no
prior drug record. He was recently acquitted of charges of trying
to bribe a police officer.
Florida State University Police arrested Janikowski this week
and charged him with possession of the designer drug GHB, also
known as the "date-rape" drug.
An undercover officer spotted Janikowski and two companions
outside a Tallahassee bar, pouring out a clear liquid, police said.
Police tests showed the liquid was GHB, which can knock out a user
when mixed with alcohol.
Janikowski, 22, was released on bond Wednesday and is awaiting
an arraignment, where prosecutors will file formal charges.
Possession of a controlled substance is a crime of moral
turpitude under federal immigration law, for which expulsion is a
possible penalty for some aliens, INS spokeswoman Karen Kraushaar
said.
Kraushaar said she couldn't discuss Janikowski's case in
particular. But she said that for someone who has been in the
country more than five years -- as Janikowski has -- it would likely
take a conviction of two such crimes to start deportation
proceedings.
Someone convicted twice of a crime of moral turpitude would
almost certainly face deportation, Kraushaar said.
"It's like two strikes and you're out," she said.
Janikowski, who was supposed begin negotiations with the Raiders
this week in California, is free on bond and allowed to travel. He
must submit to random urinalysis, his attorney, Steve Dobson, said
Thursday.
Janikowski also must abide by an 11 p.m. curfew and not go to
any bars while he's in Tallahassee.
The arrest comes just a week after Janikowski was cleared of
bribery charges in another case.
A jury last week took less than hour to acquit Janikowski of
charges he tried to bribe a policeman $300 to let his roommate go
after a nightclub arrest.
Janikowski left Florida State early to become the first kicker
in 21 years taken in the first round of the NFL draft. The two-time
All-American for the Seminoles helped lead Florida State to the
national championship this year.
The Raiders said the team would have no comment at this time.
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