Former NFL star Robert Nkemdiche arrested for allegedly smuggling groceries

Robert Nkemdiche, a former first-round draft pick in the NFL, was arrested last week in Georgia after police allegedly saw him leaving a grocery store with items hidden in his clothing.

According to a police report obtained by TMZ Sports, officers said the former Arizona Cardinals defensive tackle was spotted exiting a Kroger store during a routine business area check.

An officer reported seeing the 31-year-old with “many large objects, square and rectangular shapes, consistent with concealed grocery items, inside his sweatpants.”

Police said the officer called for backup as Nkemdiche walked toward a nearby gas station before officers approached him. The report stated that officers made contact with the 6-foot-3, 300-pound former football star and immediately placed him in double-locked handcuffs.

According to police, the items were no longer in his pants when he was detained, but officers later discovered frozen grocery items, candy bars and almond milk scattered in the parking areas of the Kroger and nearby gas station.

Officers returned to the store to confirm whether the items had been stolen. A store representative reportedly told police they did not wish to press charges over the groceries but requested that Nkemdiche be criminally trespassed from the store.

However, after running his name through the system, officers discovered several outstanding warrants across multiple states, including three in Georgia. Authorities then requested that Nkemdiche be taken into custody. He was subsequently arrested and booked into jail based on the outstanding warrants.

Nkemdiche, who previously played college football for the Ole Miss Rebels, has had prior legal issues. In 2015, he was arrested on drug possession charges after an incident in which he allegedly fell from a fourth-floor window of a hotel. Police said the grocery items recovered from the parking lot were perishable and had to be discarded.