Ex-NFL player allegedly has car vandalized by former teammate, $14,000 in damages
Lito Sheppard and Jabar Gaffney were teammates in high school, at the University of Florida and with the Philadelphia Eagles.
But the two former friends apparently are now involved in a bitter feud that culminated in vehicle vandalism on Monday.
Sheppard told police that while he was out at dinner in Jacksonville Beach, his BMW was vandalized by Gaffney and an accomplice, according to First Coast News.
Sheppard, who won a state championship at Raines High School and an SEC championship with the Gators alongside Gaffney, was unaware that his car was damaged until he was driving home from the restaurant.
He realized something was wrong with the vehicle, pulled over and had to have the car towed to a local BMW dealership for repairs.
Sheppard then called Pier Cantina, the restaurant where he was dining, and requested to view surveillance video. They obliged, and that’s when Sheppard pointed out Gaffney and his longtime girlfriend as the suspects.
Per the police report, the two former Gators have had an ongoing feud since 2012 which was Gaffney’s last in the NFL and the year that Sheppard retired.
The report also goes into detail as to what Gaffney and his girlfriend allegedly did to Sheppard’s BMW.
“Gaffney retrieved some type of tool and a container from the suspect’s vehicle, walked over to the passenger’s side of the victim’s vehicle near the gas tank, and pried it open,” the report said. “Gaffney then poured an unknown substance from the container into the gas tank. … The unknown female walked around the vehicle and stabbed all of the tires with a sharp object.”
WJXT-TV acquired video of the incident and at the 4:50 mark it shows a man who looks like Gaffney apparently pouring something into a vehicle’s gas tank.
At the 5:48 mark, the woman with him then walks around to all four tires and is clearly doing more than checking their pressure.
Sheppard said his vehicle sustained about $14,000 in damages.
This isn’t Gaffney’s first time being investigated by police. In October, he was arrested for domestic battery after his girlfriend told police he hit her in the face. It’s unknown if that girlfriend is the same as the one in the above video.
Gaffney was also arrested in 2016 for marijuana possession after a traffic stop in the Orlando area.
In 2012, Gaffney was cut by the Miami Dolphins one day before the NFL suspended him stemming from a 2010 arrest. Gaffney was arrested at the 2010 Super Bowl for resisting arrest, but the league didn’t find out about it until two years later.
Adding yet another layer of intrigue to this bizarre incident between Gaffney and Sheppard is that the Florida Gators’ profile of Gaffney states that he and Sheppard are not only longtime teammates but cousins as well.
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