Former Miami Dolphin and UM star Mark Walton busted again, this time for armed robbery
Troubled former NFL and Miami Hurricane star running back Mark Walton was arrested yet again late Tuesday night, this time for allegedly pointing a gun at a man and stealing his Rolex after they wrestled, police said.
Walton, 24, who has had a series of run-ins with the law in South Florida since being drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals in 2018, was taken into custody at his North Miami-Dade apartment and charged with armed robbery with a firearm.
He remained jailed Wednesday and was initially denied bond. It wasn’t immediately clear if he had hired an attorney.
The arrest report claims that on the afternoon of Feb. 4, Walton and a passenger in his black Honda Accord blocked a man’s path as he tried to get into his parked car in Midtown Miami. The alleged victim, who hasn’t been named, told police that Walton rolled down the driver’s side window, pointed a gun at him and said “give me the bands.”
The passenger in Walton’s vehicle then got out and started wrestling with the man, who eventually got away, but not before having a Rolex ripped off his wrist. Police and the witness said Walton got out of the vehicle and took a more active role in the robbery, though it doesn’t explain how.
Police said they used a GPS tracking system to place the Honda at the crime scene and later at Walton’s North Miami-Dade apartment. Police said they also retrieved surveillance footage. At Walton’s apartment, police said they recovered a red hoodie he had been seen wearing earlier and a Glock 19 handgun.
Police said Walton gave a statement without his lawyer present and confessed to something. What he confessed to was redacted from his arrest affidavit.
Walton, whose 25th birthday is next week, starred locally at Booker T. Washington High School, where he racked up 45 touchdowns before committing to the University of Miami Hurricanes. He starred there, too, scoring 26 times before his college career was cut short by injury.
Walton’s troubles with the law began almost as soon as he was chosen by the Bengals in the fourth round of the 2018 draft. That first year he was arrested in Miami-Dade three times in three months, the first time on a minor marijuana charge.
A month later he was arrested again, this time charged with misdemeanor battery for snatching a phone from a neighbor in his Brickell condo as they argued in the parking garage. And finally, Walton was charged with felony counts of carrying a concealed weapon, marijuana possession and reckless driving stemming from a high-speed car chase that happened on the night of March 12 in North Miami-Dade.
During the arrest, Walton was shot with a police stun gun. The Bengals cut him.
The Dolphins gave the running back a chance to revive his career in 2019, but eventually released him after another arrest, this time during an altercation with his girlfriend.
After a November 2019 arrest for aggravated battery on a pregnant woman, in which Walton was accused of repeatedly punching his girlfriend in Davie just two days after finding out she was pregnant, the court placed Walton under a standard no-contact order. He was arrested again in March 2020 for violating that no-contact order.
This story was originally published March 23, 2022 at 12:29 PM.
