Kurt Angle Blames Robinson Twp. Arrest On Ex-Girlfriend

Wrestling Champ Free On Bail, Accused Of Violating Protection Order

POSTED: 11:40 am EDT August 19, 2009
UPDATED: 2:00 pm EDT August 19, 2009

PITTSBURGH -- Olympic gold medalist and professional wrestling champion Kurt Angle says his live-in girlfriend got him arrested over the weekend on an alleged violation of a protection-from-abuse order after the two had broken up.

"I'm just going to let the judicial system take its course and I'll be vindicated," Angle told B-94's "Buckhead and Bubba in the Morning" radio show on Wednesday. "I spent nine hours in the (Allegheny) county jail. I mean, it was degrading."

Angle, of Moon Township, is free on bail as he awaits a pair of preliminary hearings -- one in September and another in October.

Meanwhile, he is still working for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling as the company's heavyweight champion, and he performed at TNA's pay-per-view event and television tapings over the past three days in Orlando, Fla.

Angle told B-94 that the alleged victim -- who he said he wasn't allowed to name, but who WTAE identified as Trenesha Biggers -- asked to take his car and go to the store early Saturday morning. Soon after that, he says Moon police were at his door.

"The cops told me I had to leave. I didn't even know why. I got out of there. If they tell me I've got to get out of my house, I'm leaving, I'm gone, and this girl ended up following me," Angle said.

In the criminal complaint, Biggers -- a pro wrestler who performs under the name "Rhaka Khan" -- told police that she went to a Starbucks Coffee in Robinson Town Centre so she could use the Internet, and then she saw Angle circle the parking lot three times and stare at her while she was outside, so she called 911 and said Angle was stalking her.

But Angle told the radio show that the woman had actually left his gated community after he did that morning.

"We got surveillance tape that shows she followed me out, and then she had me restrict the PFA by following me, so basically in a nutshell, that's pretty much what happened," Angle said.

Robinson Township police eventually pulled Angle over and found a capped syringe in his car and two vials of human growth hormone, for which Angle said he has a prescription related to a neck injury. He was charged with harassment, possessing the drugs and driving on a suspended license.

"The whole thing was just crazy," Angle said. "I told the girl it wasn't going to work out. She asked me for my car to go to the store, went to police, got a PFA. The police came to my door, kicked me out, put her in, and it's been like that ever since, and I spent nine hours in the county jail."

In his radio interview, Angle indicated that his driver's license suspension was somehow related to a well-publicized 2007 case in which he was charged with DUI in Moon Township but found not guilty at trial.

Earlier this week, attorney Michael Santicola -- who got Angle off on the DUI charge -- said that there appears to be no corroborating evidence for a PFA to have been granted against his client.

A preliminary hearing on the drug and harassment charges is scheduled for Sept. 15 before Robinson Township District Judge Carla Swearingen. Angle must attend a separate hearing on Oct. 6 in Moon Township for the alleged PFA violation.

Angle's annual "Ultimate Teen Challenge" -- a fitness competition for local youths -- will be taking place as scheduled Saturday morning at the Hilton hotel in downtown Pittsburgh.

Even after Angle's arrest, TNA allowed him to appear as scheduled on its pay-per-view event. His match was scripted to end with him keeping the championship belt, which makes him the focal point of the company's storylines.

Steven Godfrey, a spokesman for TNA, has declined comment on Angle's arrest. He said TNA has a drug policy in place for staff and performers but he did not discuss the details.

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