New date set for drug trial of former cager

The waiting game continues for Monroe Brown.

Brown, a former Penn State men's basketball player and assistant coach, had his trial delayed Wednesday according to Donna Simons, criminal clerk for the circuit court at the Harford (Md.) County Courthouse.

David Carey, Brown's attorney, said the state attorney's office was not ready to proceed with the trial and it has been rescheduled for March 24.

Brown was indicted in November on charges of being a drug kingpin and 16 other counts of distributing a controlled dangerous substance. Brown denies the charges.

The state is accusing Brown of being part of a 39-person cocaine ring. He, along with Aaron N. Mathis, are accused of being the kingpins.

Brown was linked to Mathis by undercover police through wiretaps of Mathis' pager and cellular, business and home phones.

Carey, of the Brown, Brown and Brown law firm (no relation to Monroe), said he plans on filing a motion to suppress the evidence police gathered by wiretap.

Brown was a guard for the Nittany Lions from 1988-92 and was an assistant from 1994 through 1996. He was an assistant at Marist in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., at the time of his arrest. He has been suspended by Marist.

Brown's bail is set at $500,000 and he is being held at Harford County Detention Center.

Carey said the trial will most likely be delayed again because of the numbers of the case.

"This is as big a criminal case," Carey said, "as this county has ever seen."

--by Brian Costello