READING, Pa. – An arena football player on Reading’s new team, The Pennsylvania Benjamins, is behind bars following a shooting in Ohio.
“I broke the news to them,” said Gregg Fornario, general manager with the team. “Very shocking. No one knew when they came and got him.”
And their head coach, who led them to a 3-1 start, is now out.
“The league went a different way with the head coach. Coach Lee Johnson is no longer with us,” Fornario said.
According to the U.S. Marshals Service, former Benjamins player Brandon Nichols is in the Berks County Jail on $1,000,000 bail after his arrest at the Best Western hotel in Cumru Township.
“Just a couple weeks ago, he’s involved in an incident where he’s pistol whipping somebody and shooting them with a rifle, and he’s back up here like nothing happened,” said U.S. Marshal Robert Clark.
Marshals say Nichols allegedly broke into a man’s home with a handgun and rifle and then shot him with a shotgun.
Nichols served as one of the faces of the new team, doing community outreach work and finding success on the field, speaking to 69 News following a home opening win and giving a football to his son.
“It’s been four years. I been through trials and tribulations and this is the first time my kids got to see me play,” Nicholas said.
“This is one of those cases where a single lapse of judgment could cost this young man everything,” Clark said.
“This happened on March 27th and camp started on March 30th,” Fornario recalled.
The team says they’re letting the justice system play out and looking to move forward with the rest of the season without Nichols and with a new coach.
“We’re promoting Bernie, who was with the Reading Express for years. He was our DB coach,” Fornario said. “He’s now gonna be our head coach.”
Bernie Nowotarski will now assume the role of head coach for the Pennsylvania Benjamins.