Olympic legend Mary Lou Retton arrested for DUI
Olympic gymnastics legend Mary Lou Retton has been charged with driving under the influence in West Virginia.
Retton, 57, was stopped in Marion County, West Virginia, on May 17 and charged with one misdemeanor count of "driving under influence of alcohol, controlled substances, or drugs," online court records show.
Retton was released the day of her arrest after posting $1,500 bond.
She has not yet issued a plea, court records show.
Retton's attorney, Edmund J. Rollo, declined to comment on the case when reached Tuesday by ABC News.
Retton's arrest comes two years after the gold-medal winning gymnast overcame what she would later describe as a life-threatening battle with pneumonia that required a nearly two-week stay in the intensive care unit.
In an interview last May, Retton said she was still suffering complications from the 2023 health scare that left her hospitalized.
"I still have a hard time breathing and getting breath to speak," Retton told "Entertainment Tonight," adding at the time that she remained on supplemental oxygen. "I'm a speaker [and] I haven't been able to really work because I don't know if I can get up on stage and do an hourlong talk like I've normally done for 40 years. That's frustrating. It's been hard, I have to say."
Retton said in the interview that she battled a "rare form of pneumonia." Pneumonia is a type of lung infection that can be caused by a variety of factors, such as bacteria, fungi, a parasite or a virus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Mary Lou Retton speaks out for 1st time after life-threatening health scare
During her illness, Retton's four daughters set up an online fundraiser for her medical bills. The fundraiser drew some criticism, with some people questioning why a legendary athlete who was once the cover star for Wheaties' boxed cereal would fall on hard financial times.
"They were just trying to take care of me," Retton told "ET" of her daughters' fundraising efforts.
Noting that she lacked health insurance when the fundraiser was started, Retton said in response to the criticism, "You're welcome to, you know, your opinion. But you weren't in that situation. My daughters stepped up to the plate and they saved my life."
Retton is most famous for her performance in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, where she scored a series of perfect 10s to become the first-ever American to win an Olympic individual all-round gold.
Retton also won two additional silver medals and two bronze medals at the Los Angeles Olympics, making her the most decorated athlete of that Olympics, according to her official Olympics biography.
Mary Lou Retton says she has 'very long recovery' 7 months after hospital release
Retton has remained an iconic American sports hero in the decades since and was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame in 1997.
In 2018, Retton competed on season 27 of ABC's dancing competition show "Dancing with the Stars."
Olympic legend Mary Lou Retton arrested for DUI originally appeared on goodmorningamerica.com
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
ICE Arrests Immigrant Who Allegedly Threatened to Shoot Trump in Letter
A Mexican immigrant was arrested after allegedly threatening to shoot President Donald Trump in a handwritten letter, the Department of Homeland Security said Wednesday. The DHS said Ramon Morales-Reyes, a 54-year-old immigrant who allegedly entered the U.S. illegally, wrote in a letter to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent that he would self-deport—but only after using his gun on the president. 'We are tired of this president messing with us Mexicans,' the letter read. 'We have done more for this country than you white people—you have been deporting my family and I think it is time Donald J. Trump get what he has coming to him.' 'I will self-deport myself back to Mexico but not before I use my 30 yard 6 to shoot your precious president in his head—I will see him at one of his big rallies,' Morales-Reyes added, in an apparent reference to a .30-06 rifle. The DHS said an ICE field intelligence officer received the letter in the mail on May 21. The following day, ICE arrested Morales-Reyes. The agency said Morales-Reyes entered the U.S. illegally 'at least nine times' between 1998 and 2005, and that his criminal record includes arrests for felony hit and run, criminal damage to property, and disorderly conduct. Morales-Reyes is held at the Dodge County Jail in Juneau, Wisconsin while awaiting his removal proceedings, the DHS said. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem noted in a statement that the letter came on the heels of a now-deleted Instagram post by former FBI Director James Comey that authorities perceived as a threat to the president's life, as well as two assassination attempts on Trump last year. 'All politicians and members of the media should take notice of these repeated attempts on President Trump's life and tone down their rhetoric,' she said. 'I will continue to take all measures necessary to ensure the protection of President Trump.' Over the weekend, the Justice Department said an American-German man was arrested over his threats to kill Trump in his social media posts and an attempt to firebomb the U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
FBI examining COVID-19 origin 'cover-up' amid new strain emergence: Bongino
FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino stated Wednesday evening that the bureau is examining issues related to the origin of COVID-19, though he did not confirm the existence of a formal investigation into a cover-up. Bongino made the remarks in a post on X amid growing media attention on a newly identified Covid-19 strain. "As we read and process reports of a new COVID strain emerging, I want you to know that we are actively investigating, in multiple field offices, the cover-up of the origin of the COVID virus, along with associated matters requiring our attention," Bongino wrote. "The American people deserve answers." Fbi Deputy Director Bongino: Illegal Alien Criminals And Child Predators Are Next In Ongoing Crackdown He did not identify specific individuals or entities under scrutiny. The FBI has not issued an official news release on the matter, and the scope of the review remains unclear. The FBI did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment. Read On The Fox News App Bongino's comment represents one of the most direct public statements by a senior FBI official regarding the agency's continued interest in the pandemic's origin and the surrounding circumstances. In 2023, then-FBI Director Christopher Wray said the agency assessed with moderate confidence that COVID-19 most likely originated from a lab incident in Wuhan, China. Chinese authorities have consistently denied such claims, calling them politically motivated and unsubstantiated. Fbi Deputy Director Dan Bongino: James Comey 'Brought Shame To The Fbi Again' With '86 47' Post Bongino's post follows the detection of a new COVID-19 variant, provisionally identified by researchers as NB.1.8.1, which has appeared in several U.S. states. Federal health authorities have not designated it as a variant of concern. The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic has continued its inquiry into whether early public health messaging downplayed the lab leak theory for diplomatic or political reasons. Dr. Anthony Fauci, a former White House health advisor, has repeatedly denied any effort to conceal information, calling those allegations "entirely false." Doj Investigating Andrew Cuomo For Allegedly Lying About Covid Decisions, Source Confirms Bongino has increasingly used social media to communicate bureau updates directly to the public. A former NYPD officer and Secret Service agent, Bongino was appointed deputy director earlier this year by FBI Director Kash article source: FBI examining COVID-19 origin 'cover-up' amid new strain emergence: Bongino
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Crypto crime spills over from behind the screen to real-life violence
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A man says he was tortured for weeks in a New York townhouse. Another in Paris was held for ransom and his finger cut off. A couple in Connecticut were carjacked, beaten and thrown into a van. All, authorities allege, were victims tied to cryptocurrency-related crimes that have spilled out from behind computer screens and into the real world as the largely unregulated currency surges in value. While crypto thefts are not new, the use of physical violence is a far more recent trend, said John Griffin, a finance professor at the University of Texas in Austin who tracks financial crimes. 'I think this kind of physical violence is a natural manifestation of the emboldened nature of crypto activities,' he said. 'Things that might clearly be outside of social norms in other spaces — like robbing a bank — are somehow just part of the game here.' Kidnapping, burglary and torture allegations In the New York case, two American crypto investors — John Woeltz and William Duplessie — have been arrested on kidnapping and assault charges in recent days after a 28-year-old Italian man told police they tortured him for weeks to get his Bitcoin password. Attorneys for both men declined to comment. While the allegations are still emerging, they come just weeks after 13 people were indicted on federal charges in Washington, D.C., accused of combining computer hacking and money laundering with old-fashioned impersonation and burglary to steal more than $260 million from victims' cryptocurrency accounts. Some are accused of hacking websites and servers to steal cryptocurrency databases and identify targets, but others are alleged to have broken into victims' homes to steal their 'hardware wallets' — devices that provide access to their crypto accounts. The case stemmed from an investigation that started after a couple in Connecticut last year were forced out of a Lamborghini SUV, assaulted and bound in the back of a van. Authorities allege the incident was a ransom plot targeting the couple's son — who they say helped steal more than $240 million worth of Bitcoin from a single victim. The son has not been charged, but is being detained on an unspecified 'federal misdemeanor offense' charge, according to online jail records. Police stopped the carjacking and arrested six men. Meanwhile in France, kidnappings of wealthy cryptocurrency holders and their relatives in ransom plots have spooked the industry. Attackers recently kidnapped the father of a crypto entrepreneur while he was out walking his dog, and sent videos to the son including one showing the dad's finger being severed as they demanded millions of euros in ransom, prosecutors allege. Police freed the father and arrested several suspects. Earlier this year, men in masks attempted to drag the daughter of Pierre Noizat, the CEO and a founder of the Bitcoin exchange platform Paymium, into a van, but were thwarted by a shopkeeper armed with a fire extinguisher. And in January, the co-founder of French crypto-wallet firm Ledger, David Balland, and his wife were also kidnapped for ransom from their home in the region of Cher of central France. They also were rescued by police and 10 people were arrested. Cryptocurrency crime likely fueled by big money, little regulation The FBI recently released its 2024 internet crime report that tallied nearly 860,000 complaints of suspected internet crime and a record $16.6 billion in reported losses — a 33% increase in losses compared with 2023. As a group, cryptocurrency theft victims reported the most losses — more than $6.5 billion The agency and experts say the crypto crime underworld is likely being fueled by the large amounts of money at stake – combined with weak regulation of cryptocurrency that allows many transactions to be made without identity documents. Violence may be increasing for several reasons including that criminals believe they can get away with crypto theft because transactions are hard to trace and often cloaked by anonymity, according to the crypto tracing firm TRM Labs. And crypto holders are getting easier to identify because of the prevalence of personal information online and people flaunting their crypto wealth on social media, the firm says. Phil Ariss, TRM Labs' director of UK public sector relations, said crypto also may be attracting criminal groups that have long used violence. 'As long as there's a viable route to launder or liquidate stolen assets, it makes little difference to the offender whether the target is a high-value watch or a crypto wallet,' Ariss said in a statement. 'Cryptocurrency is now firmly in the mainstream, and as a result, our traditional understanding of physical threat and robbery needs to evolve accordingly."