Fox Business reporter Lawrence Crook III was escorted out of the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Courthouse around 11:30 a.m. local time on December 9 after it was revealed that he had what appeared to be a crack pipe stashed on his person.
The New York Post reported that Crook, who was at the Lower Manhattan courthouse to cover the Sprint/T-Mobil merger trial, immediately confessed to authorities about possessing the drug paraphernalia.
Sources said the reporter could be overheard complaining about how he was in “big trouble” and recently lost his job at CNN.
While a Federal Protective Service spokesman told Law360 that an officer saw the glass pipe fall out of Crook’s pocket in the courtroom before he was removed, the New York Post, citing “multiple sources with knowledge of the incident,” claimed an officer spotted a bulge in the Fox Business reporter’s sock.
Crook was not arrested, but instead cited for possession of drug paraphernalia on federal property.
Neither Fox Business or Fox News, the channel’s parent company, has commented on the matter.