Source: Kevin Sabitus / Getty
Retired athletes usually start their own podcast or become sports analysts, but Buster Skrine had a much different trajectory.
Born Darryl Skrine, the former NFL player was arrested on Wednesday by Georgia’s Roswell police for his alleged role in a financial fraud scheme. Police say he’s been hit with 18 charges related to the scam, all related to him scheming against unsuspecting women.
According to 11 Alive, Police began investigating in July when one came forward to say she was being “financially exploited” by Skrine. Once investigators kept digging, they learned that there were several victims —at least three between Wisconsin, North Carolina, and New York— who fell for Skrine after he approached them on dating apps.
He’d reportedly spew similar stories to all of them about his financial problems, asking for money and promising to pay them back from his NFL annuity.
But cops say it was all a lie and just enabled his “lavish lifestyle,” which included financing Airbnb rentals, travel, and gift cards, which amounted to about $300,000.
He’s officially been charged with deposit account fraud, identity fraud, financial transaction card fraud, theft by taking, and criminal attempt to commit robbery, which led to him being served a search warrant for his Pine Grove home.
His alleged scamming ways weren’t limited to America, as Georgia authorities are in talks with Canadian law enforcement to ensure he “answers for all his charges” there as well.
According to 11 Alive, he was arrested at the Toronto Pearson International Airport in 2023 for defrauding a bank out of $100,000 by opening a checking account using fake checks and withdrawing the money before the checks cleared.
In April 2024, he was in custody at a Saskatchewan jail but was granted bail under the condition that he wear a GPS monitoring device. But in May, he missed a court date, and his ankle monitor had lost its signal.
Before his legal problems, Skrine was selected by the Cleveland Browns in the fifth round of the 2011 NFL draft, where he played until he signed with the New York Jets in free agency in 2015. Then in 2018, he had stints with the Chicago Bears, San Francisco 49ers, and Tennessee Titans.
Eventually retiring in 2022 with reported career earnings of $40 million, it’s unclear how he ran into money problems.
See social media’s reaction to his arrest below.
