AJ Ferrari, a former wrestler at the University of Nebraska and WWE NIL athlete, was arrested on Tuesday (July 7) on an outstanding warrant and arraigned in court the following day.
The 24-year-old was charged with third-degree assault by strangulation or suffocation of a pregnant woman, third-degree domestic violence assault, and first-degree false imprisonment.
A press release from the sheriff’s office in Douglas County, Nebraska, shared details about his arrest. According to the statement, investigators from the department’s Special Operations Group (SOG) were conducting surveillance at a residence where Ferrari was believed to be staying when they saw a woman leave the home and get into a truck.
“A short time later a male was seen crawling out of the garage and entering the rear passenger seat of the vehicle. That male was identified as Ferrari,” the press release said.
The SOG Investigators followed the truck and notified the county’s Uniformed Services Bureau (USB) Patrol Deputies of the vehicle’s location. Those deputies performed a stop on the vehicle, and Ferrari was taken into custody without incident and later booked into the Douglas County Department of Corrections on his warrant.
Ferrari was signed to WWE’s NIL (Next in Line), a collegiate recruiting program in 2021, but he never wrestled in any kind of official capacity for the promotion even though he was once considered a top prospect.
His promising athletic career was previously derailed by other legal issues before the latest charges.
In 2022, he was charged with felony sexual battery, though the case was dismissed the following year when the alleged victim chose not to proceed with the case. When the investigation into those allegations began, he was dropped from Oklahoma State’s wrestling team. (Ferrari next went to Cal State Bakersfield before transferring to Nebraska.)
In January of this year, Ferrari was pulled over by Nebraska State Patrol for speeding when a trooper found out he had an outstanding warrant to his name in Texas. As a result, Ferrari was arrested and put into a local jail on a fugitive from justice charge. The warrant from a few months prior reportedly cited Ferrari for evading arrest. However, that case was also later dismissed.
Just last month, he was arrested on charges of flight to avoid arrest, willful reckless driving, and obstructing the police. According to a Nebraska State Patrol trooper, a Corvette being driven by Ferrari was clocked going 110 in a 55 MPH zone. During the pursuit, Ferrari allegedly stopped his car and fled on foot before being taken into custody.
For his latest arrest, Ferrari’s bond was set to $200,000 on Wednesday (June 8). His next court date is August 13.
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