Figure Skating Champ Up on Drug Charges

July 8, 2009 -- Former U.S. figure skating champion Nicole
Bobek would never do anything criminal, the skater's mother said
Wednesday, two days after her 31-year-old daughter was released
from jail on a drug charge.
However, Jana Bobek also said her daughter liked to party and
may be in trouble because of the company she keeps.
"If she is in some kind of trouble, she is probably in some
trouble because she got in with the wrong company. I do strongly
believe she would never do anything criminal," Jana Bobek told The
Associated Press.
"Did she party? Probably, yes," Bobek's mother said. "I know
she's a wonderful person and she has a very good heart and a lot of
time that's been taken advantage of."
Nicole Bobek, who has homes in New York City and Jupiter, Fla.,
has been charged with conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine in
Hudson County. She was arrested in Florida last week and extradited
to New Jersey.
Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio said 20 people have been
arrested in connection with the drug ring. He did not return a call
for comment on Wednesday.
The 31-year-old Bobek made her first court appearance Monday by
video from the Hudson County Jail and posted bail later that night
after it was reduced from $200,000 to $100,000 cash or bond.
Neither Nicole Bobek nor her attorney, Sam DeLuca, returned
calls Wednesday.
Bobek won the women's U.S. figure skating title in 1995.
If convicted of the drug charges, she faces up to 10 years in
prison.
"It's very upsetting to me," Jana Bobek said. "She's my only
child."