More Troubles for Bill Maas

By Randy Covitz, The Kansas City Star, Mo.

Sep. 7–Airport officials on Thursday were determining their next course of action regarding former Chiefs star Bill Maas.

Maas was detained Wednesday at Kansas City International Airport for having a loaded handgun in his carry-on bag, and a fine of $10,000 is a real possibility.

Though bringing a gun to the airport is against a city ordinance, and carrying one onto an airplane is against civil aviation security regulations, Maas was not charged pending further investigations.

Maas, who claimed at the airport that he mistakenly brought the wrong bag, still can be assessed a $500 fine and/or sentenced to six months in jail if guilty of charges brought by KCI Airport Police. He also could face up to a $10,000 fine from the Transportation Security Administration.

“In almost all cases for a firearm, we will assess a civil penalty,” said Carrie Harmon, a TSA spokeswoman.

Maas, 45, could not be reached for comment.

KCI Police Chief Al Lomax said federal screeners, who are not law-enforcement officers, detected a weapon inside Maas’ backpack when he walked through the X-ray machine. Airport police were immediately notified, and the weapon was confiscated.

“If we discover a firearm at the checkpoint, loaded or unloaded, we immediately notify (local) law enforcement,” Harmon said. “The law-enforcement officers will question the individual and determine what happens from there.”

Airport police initiated an investigation, which included notifying federal authorities.

“KCI airport police may, in fact, work with other law-enforcement agencies, local and federal, in that investigation, and it may not be over from the criminal aspect,” said airport spokesman Joe McBride. “If there is a federal criminal charge, they would be involving other federal law-enforcement agencies besides TSA (meaning the FBI).

After an interview and a series of background checks, authorities determined Maas could be released.

So in this post-9/11 era, can one who is found with a gun at the airport be detained but then catch a subsequent flight without being arrested, as Mass apparently did?

“Yes,” McBride said, “with further charges pending or further investigation and whether they knew about anything else that happened in his past.

“It’s up to the officers involved and how they approach the situation, and the apparent intent of the individual. Maybe there is some latitude. I don’t know if it’s all black and white. It’s subject to interpretation. Are there extenuating circumstances? Those are terms that are in play here.”

This was Maas’ second run-in with authorities in three months. In July, he was arrested on drug possession and weapons charges during a roadside check in Peoria, Ill. But according to the state attorney’s office, that case is still being investigated, and Maas and a passenger in the car did not have to appear in court as originally scheduled last month.

Maas, a Pro Bowl nose tackle during his career with the Chiefs during 1984-1992, and an analyst for NFL games on Fox during 1996-2006, isn’t the first well-known sports figure to get caught with a gun at an airport.

In August 1997, security guards arrested then-Dallas coach Barry Switzer for carrying a loaded revolver in his carry-on bag at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. Switzer, like Maas, said it was an inadvertent mistake. He said he threw the .38 caliber revolver into his travel bag to hide it from three small children who had been visiting his home and forgot about it until airport personnel arrested him.

Because he had no prior record, Switzer was charged with a misdemeanor. He also was fined $75,000 by Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and was dismissed as the Cowboys’ coach after the season.

It did not appear Maas was attempting to hide or conceal the weapon, said Lomax, who added that what happened to Maas is common among many KCI passengers.

“You would be surprised at the number of people who come to the airport with weapons in their bags,” he said. “They say they went hunting and accidentally left in the bags or suitcases. It sounds stupid, but they get caught every time.”

The situation is different if authorities have a reason to believe that someone purposely is trying to commit an act of violence.

Still, the incident involving Maas continued a downward spiral in his personal life during the last two years. Besides the arrest in Peoria last month, a female bartender at a suburban St. Louis establishment filed a claim in May 2006 that Maas, one of the bar’s owners, sexually harassed her. She filed a charge of discrimination with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, but no court action was taken.

At the time of the incident in St. Louis, Maas was considered one of Fox’s top analysts. But his role was reduced in 2006, and he was not retained by the network for this season.

Maas also was a sports talk-show host on WHB and later KCSP for several years, but his contract at KCSP was not renewed in the summer of 2006.

“It’s sad,” said former Chiefs cornerback Jayice Pearson, a teammate of Maas as well as a fellow Fox analyst. “It’s unfortunate to see things go badly that quickly. Hopefully he can get it straightened out. He was a rising star (at Fox) for a reason. He was damn good for a number of years. Then it began slipping from there.”

Paul Coffman, a teammate of Maas with the Chiefs during 1986-87, said he and other former players have unsuccessfully tried to reach out to Maas in recent years.

“I love Billy Bob, and I want to see him do well, but it seems like every time I pick up the paper …” Coffman said. “I’ve called him several times and ask, ‘What’s going on?’ He says, ‘Nothing’s going on … a misunderstanding … wrong suitcase, wrong place.’

“He’s been to himself the last few years. He doesn’t open up a lot about personal things anyway.”

During his career, Maas was no stranger to the night life, but former teammate Rich Baldinger was still surprised by the turn in Maas’ life.

“Billy was crazy, but Billy wasn’t stupid,” Baldinger said. “Billy had common sense. He was trying to enjoy himself and probably was trying to burn both ends of the candle and probably got himself involved in things he wished he didn’t.”

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INSIDE Receiver Samie Parker is under pressure to keep his starting job. — D12

Go to KansasCity.com for video and more on the Chiefs.

Glenn E. Rice of The Star’s staff contributed to this story. To reach Randy Covitz, NFL writer for The Star, send e-mail to rcovitz@kcstar.com

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