There was an old homespun proverb that my North Carolina Grandfather used to say a lot that went something like this:
“He’s the only guy I know who can fall in a bucket of s**t and walk away from it smelling like a rose.”
That old saying certainly applies to embattled race driver Jeremy Mayfield. We’re all aware that Mayfield was indefinitely suspended by NASCAR back in 2009 after failing a company drug test. That test indicated that Mayfield was using methamphetamine at the time. He remains under suspension to this day after declining to employ the use of NASCAR’s rehabilitation program. Mayfield chose to challenge the ruling in the courts claiming a mixture of a prescribed medicine with an over the counter allergy medication created a false positive in his test. After a lengthy court battle against NASCAR, that was turning into a futile effort, Mayfield eventually withdrew his lawsuit.
However, in the middle of all this, Mayfield was arrested for possession of methamphetamine as well as possession of a substantial amount of stolen property found by authorities at his North Carolina home. The charges, filed by three different North Carolina counties, were serious and Mayfield’s future appeared to be, at best, extremely bleak.
Again, Mayfield declared his innocence and began the lengthy and expensive process of defending himself. During the course of the legal proceedings, he said he would consider a plea bargain as long as it didn’t involve any jail time.
Okay, let’s be honest here, we all had a good laugh when we read that quote. With all of those serious charges stacked against him, of course Mayfield was going to jail.
Guess what happened on Monday, January 6th?
A report filed by WBTV, a Charlotte-North Carolina based television station said, “former NASCAR driver Jeremy Mayfield has pleaded guilty to two counts of misdemeanor possession of stolen goods and one count of misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia.”
“Mayfield will serve NO jail time, but will have to pay $88,124.41 in restitution to the victims. $60,000 of that was paid Monday, (December 30th), with the rest being paid Tuesday, (December 31st), officials told WBTV.”
“He will serve a 45-day suspended sentence and 18 months of unsupervised probation. Mayfield’s home in Catawba County was searched in 2011 and items alleged to be stolen were taken by law enforcement as evidence.”
Talk about walking away smelling like a rose.
