Getty Rooney pictured in Saudi Arabia on December 15, the day before his arrest.
Wayne Rooney was in Saudi Arabia on promotional duties for Formula E racing on December 15. According to online records, that’s the day before the English soccer legend was arrested in Loudoun County, Virginia, on charges of public drunkenness and swearing.
The Washington Post reports that Rooney had consumed “three mixed drinks” and a sleeping pill on the flight back to the U.S. from Saudi Arabia. Rooney was taken into custody at Dulles International Airport after customs officers saw signs that Rooney was allegedly “impaired.”
Charges were filed against Rooney, who now plays for D.C. United in Major League Soccer, at the Loudoun General District Court on December 17. The documents list Rooney as living in Bethesda, Maryland.
Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office handout photo of former England footballer Wayne Rooney after he was booked into the Loudoun County Adult Detention Center on December 16, 2018
A hearing on Rooney’s charges had been set for January 24 but that has been canceled after Rooney paid a fine of $25 and incurred costs of $91. The money was paid on January 4. The complainant in the case is listed as a J.A. Spina.
Rooney had been posting on his official Instagram page in the days leading up to his arrest that he was in Saudi Arabia at the Ad Diriyah E-Prix in Ad Diriyah, a suburb of the nation’s capital, Riyadh. Shortly after his arrest, Rooney posted that he was going to England for the holiday season. While in England, Rooney also performed soccer punditry duties for BT Sports, commenting on the English Premier League.
Rooney has been a revelation in the MLS since joining D.C. United in June 2018. He scored 12 goals in 20 games to bring the team into the playoffs, they had been in last place when he joined. Rooney holds the goalscoring record for both the English national team and Manchester United. In September 2017, Rooney was banned from driving in the United Kingdom for two years after he was found guilty of being three times over the limit. Rooney said in court that the car he had been driving belonged to a woman he had met at a bar that night.
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