Strawberry used cocaine

Darryl Strawberry told his probation officer he spent the four days he was missing doing cocaine with a female friend and armed men who took his jewelry and abandoned him in a motel room.

In a report to the judge who will decide if the former baseball star will go to prison, Florida probation officials said Tuesday that Strawberry tested positive for cocaine use and violated the terms of his house arrest in his four-day absence from a drug rehab centre.

The report came as Strawberry remained in a psychiatric ward at St. Joseph's Hospital while doctors evaluated him.

Under arrest for violating his probation, he will be sent to the Hillsborough County Jail and held without bail once doctors declare him mentally stable.

The probation report is the first official accounting of Strawberry's Thursday night disappearance from the drug treatment centre where he was serving two years of house arrest.

Strawberry told his probation officer that he was picked up at the centre by a woman from an Alcoholics Anonymous program named Beverly, who was supposed to take him to the meeting.

"... Instead she began smoking crack cocaine and he couldn't resist the temptation," probation officer Shelley Tomlinson wrote in her report.

"He said she took him to a nearby motel where there were a total of five men who had guns and took his jewelry."

Strawberry said they continued to use cocaine until Friday, when the men -- who are not identified -- decided it was time to leave.

They rode around town, bought more drugs and drove to a motel in Orlando, the report said.

Joe Ficarrotta, Strawberry's lawyer, was not immediately available for comment on the probation report.

Earlier in the day, Ficarrotta said he was relieved that Strawberry was located.

Neither the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office nor Strawberry's lawyer know how long Strawberry will be in hospital.

"It's a tough position for the judge to be in," Ficarrotta said. "Whether he relapses one time or 10 times, it's the same thing.

"It's whether you fight drug addiction by putting people in prison or do the right thing and get them the medical treatment they need."

Meanwhile, Strawberry's friends rallied around the former slugger.

In addition to his legal troubles, Strawberry also is undergoing an aggressive, experimental treatment for colon cancer.

"He wants to get himself clean, he wants to go on and live a normal life like everyone else," said Mark Kennedy, who once shared an apartment with Strawberry at the Tampa drug treatment centre.

"If he's told me once, he's told me 50 times: `I wish I wasn't who I am.' He says he wishes he was a regular guy."

Strawberry disappeared from Health Care Connection, where he was sent on drug possession and solicitation-of-prostitution charges.

He also was on probation for a misdemeanour charge of leaving the scene of an accident stemming from a September collision caused when he was driving under the influence of painkillers.

Strawberry resurfaced Monday when two friends went to Daytona Beach to get him and check him into the hospital.

It was not clear from the probation report how Strawberry got to Daytona Beach, two hours northeast of Orlando.

One of those associates, Ray Negron, a Cleveland Indians consultant, said he visited Strawberry on Tuesday.

"He's doing better today," Negron said. "He's doing OK and he's getting the care that he needs."

Negron said he has been fielding telephone calls from former teammates and friends who are concerned about Strawberry.

Among them were Indians second baseman Robert Alomar and pitcher Bartolo Colon.

By Vickie Chachere