Report: Aaron Hernandez Allegedly Sold His Patriots Jersey Number For Drug Money
The suicide of Aaron Hernandez shocked the country, and now his former attorney is revealing even more details about his life.
Attorney Jose Baez wrote a book based on the biography of the former Patriot. Aaron Hernandez made a trade request to head coach Bill Belichick, and even wrote several suicide letters for the love of his life, the attorney, and his little daughter.
Baez represented Hernanez during the 2017 double-murder trial in Boston. In his book, the attorney also wrote about Hernandez’s jersey number, Chad Ochocinco, and the drug deal.
In 2010-11, Hernandez wore No. 85 as a rookie in the Patriots team. After the season ended, the Patriots acquired Ochocinco in the trade deal with the Cincinati Bengals.
Yahoo Sports’ Dan Wetzel wrote that Hernandez spotted the business opportunity in the arrival of the veteran wide receiver.
Hernandez offered to sell the number to Ochocinco. Yes, he changed his number from Chad Johnson to the Spanish word for “eighty five.” What’s the price? Baez says it’s $75,000. Ochocinco came up with an offer of $50,000, and the Patriot accepted it. Hernandez took the money and “floated” the dollars to his cousin’s husband, T.L. Singleton, who used the money to support a wholesale drug deal. What was Hernandez’s gain? $120,000.
The players didn’t admit the deal and the number change. Hernandez noted that he was just welcoming a new teammate, saying that he “thought Ochocinco may look better and play better in 85, because that’s his last name. So why not give it to him?”
According to Ochocinco, the gesture was “Mr. Hernandez’s way of greeting me here. he gave me the number. I didn’t have to pay anything.”
Baez said that Hernandez denied to him that the money was used to finance a drug deal. He admitted the truth much later. “OK, I knew what he was going to do with it, but it was not something we ever spoke of. He just paid me back,” Hernandez told Baez at the time.
Many believe that this isn’t the whole story of Hernandez. Will the attorney reveal more details about his life?