A Broward attorney and candidate who is running for the county's public defender's office was arrested at Tallahassee Regional Airport last week, after a security screener found a vial of cocaine in the pocket of his jacket, police said.
Gary S. Ostrow, 52, was charged with one count of cocaine possession.
But the Fort Lauderdale attorney, whose clients include Miami Dolphins running back Ricky Williams, said he did not put the cocaine in his jacket.
''Whatever they found in my jacket, I did not know it was there,'' Ostrow said Friday.
Ostrow was arrested at 11:35 a.m. May 2 -- the same day that state election records show he filed to run for office.
According to police, a Transportation Security Administration employee noticed a glass vial in Ostrow's jacket during an X-ray screening.
The clear vial, with a light purple top, contained a white powder and had been in the right, inside breast pocket of Ostrow's blue blazer. The powder was later tested and identified as .9 grams of cocaine.
TSA contacted police, who arrested Ostrow. He spent a few hours in jail before being released.
Ostrow, who is single with no children, would not say whether he is a cocaine addict, only that he has had his ``ups and downs in the past.''
A Florida Department of Law Enforcement report shows no other criminal arrests for Ostrow in Florida.
Broward court records show Ostrow with one criminal traffic case -- driving a motorcycle without a valid license along with two other traffic charges in 2006. Ostrow pleaded no contest, records state.
A member of the state Bar since 1982, Ostrow said he is unsure whether he will continue his bid for Broward public defender.
''Based on my rapport with the bench and the judges, I feel that I can be a force that will take the office in a more positive direction,'' he said. ``But I have to reconsider that whole position obviously.''
