In what appears to be an appalling case of Gator-on-Gator crime, a warrant has reportedly been issued in Jacksonville, Florida, for the arrest of Jabar Gaffney on felony criminal mischief charges after he allegedly vandalized the BMW of former teammate Lito Sheppard last month. Per the News 4 JAX I-Team:
Someone slashed the tires of Lito Sheppard’s BMW and poured a contaminant into the gas tank while the car was parked outside a Jacksonville Beach restaurant June 17, causing $14,000 in damage.
Slashing a person’s tires is dirty enough, but the sugar in the gas tank trick is just the lowest of the low. Sheppard apparently didn’t notice the damage right away, and later drove “about a block” before the car stalled out. Later someone at his dealership pointed out damage to all four tires and the gas cap, repairs of which would reportedly run in the neighborhood of $14,000.
Gaffney and Sheppard were high school teammates in Jacksonville and then teammates at the University of Florida in 2000 and 2001 under Steve Spurrier, and both were drafted into the NFL in 2002. They even spent a preseason together in Philadelphia when Gaffney briefly joined the Eagles organization prior to the start of the 2006-07 season. And both men apparently moved back to Jacksonville after their playing careers ended. But their relationship appears to stink, for reasons having to do with alleged marital infidelity: Sheppard reportedly says they’ve feuded over Gaffney “claiming Sheppard had an affair with Gaffney’s wife,” an accusation Sheppard denies.
The feud recently escalated to the point of a judge granting Sheppard’s request for a temporary restraining order against Gaffney, after surveillance video surfaced showing the vandalism of Sheppard’s car that led to the $14,000 in damage. Sheppard says the man in the video is Gaffney, pouring something into his gas tank:
Per the I-Team report, Gaffney’s attorney is insisting the man in the video is someone other than his client:
“Jabar Gaffney is absolutely maintaining it’s not him. I don’t think it looks like him; other people that have seen him don’t think it looks like him. The whole thing is ridiculous. We will take a look at the injunction and defend it. Jabar Gaffney has no clue why this is happening because he hasn’t seen Lito Sheppard in three years. He (Gaffney) is getting aggravated because his name is being drug through the mud nationally and he is innocent.”
