At Sons' Sentencing, Judge Calls Andy Reid Home a 'Drug Emporium'

by KYW's Paul Kurtz

A pair of sentencings were taking place on Thursday for the Reid brothers. The sons of Eagles' coach Andy Reid were both arrested on January 30th.

Garrett Reid (left photo above) was sentenced to 2-23 months in prison for driving under the influence and reckless endangerment. The reckless endangerment charge is a charge to which he pleaded guilty in July. His brother Britt was sentenced to 8-23 months in connection with a road rage case.

Meanwhile, there's been a startling revelation in Garrett Reid's case. Officials say 89 pills were found in Garrett Reid's cell on Thursday morning, apparently having been secreted in a body cavity.  For that, Garrett will have to face additional sentencing.

Garret Reid told the judge he is not who he used to be and doesn't want to be known as the spoiled son of the Eagles coach who overdosed.

Garrett will be eligible for early parole if he qualifies for the Montgomery County drug treatment program. It's said to be a very tough program to get through. It was not immediately known whether he will be eligible for the program. 

The judge who sentenced Reid's sons on Thursday likened the coach's home to "a drug emporium," and questioned whether his adult sons should live there, given their drug problems.
   
"There isn't any structure there that this court can depend upon," Montgomery County judge Steven O'Neill said before sentencing Reid's son Britt (in righthand file photo above).

"I'm saying this is a family in crisis," O'Neill said.
      
O'Neill noted that searches of the Reid home found illegal and prescription drugs throughout the house. He said both boys had been overmedicated throughout much of their lives.
   
"It sounds more or less like a drug emporium there, and you are an addict," O'Neill told Britt Reid.
   
Andy Reid and his wife Tammy were in court but declined to comment.
   
"Andy and Tammy are supportive of their son. That has been their position since this all began. He will not comment on it," defense attorney Ross Weiss said before the judge's comments.
   
Both Weiss and Britt Reid's attorney, William Winning, declined to comment after the hearing. Andy and Tammy Reid quickly were escorted by sheriff's deputies and their personal bodyguard through the courthouse basement.
    
Both sons lived at their parents' home in the suburb of Villanova at the time of their arrests. Andy Reid took a five-week leave from the Eagles in the offseason to deal with his family's troubles. He has routinely declined to discuss his sons' legal problems, but said he would not resign from the team because of them.
    
On Thursday, Britt Reid said everything he did, he did without his parents' knowledge, but O'Neill questioned that.
    
Both Reids can apply for a special drug court program that would require them to report to authorities regularly, undergo rigorous drug testing and hold down jobs. 
  
The coach's two sons got into separate legal trouble on January 30th. Garrett Reid tested positive for heroin and admitted having used it that day. He ran a red light in Plymouth Township and hit another car. Authorities found syringes with heroin and testosterone in his SUV.
    
In a separate incident that same day, Britt Reid pointed a handgun at another driver following a dispute. He pleaded guilty to a string of charges, including carrying a firearm without a license, a felony.
    
Britt Reid was sentenced to eight to 23 months in jail plus five years' probation on gun and drug charges. He can apply for the special drug program after five months.
    
Garrett Reid was sentenced to two to 23 months in the county prison plus one year of probation. He told O'Neill that he would apply to the drug court program.
       
Speaking in court and in a statement to a probation officer, Garrett Reid said he made a fast descent into hard drugs and enjoyed being the rich kid who dealt drugs in poor, violent Philadelphia neighborhoods and in the tony suburbs.
    
His addiction persists, according to authorities, who found 89 prescription drug pills in Reid's jail cell Thursday morning. They believe he smuggled them in his rectum when he was jailed earlier this week.
    
"That's consistent with someone as severely drug addicted as he is," prosecutor Costanzo said.