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TAMPA - There is a new, unfortunate link between former major league baseball star Dwight Gooden Sr. and his namesake and oldest son.
Cocaine.
Last month, Dwight Gooden Jr., 17, was arrested several days after a Hillsborough sheriff's sting operation and charged with two counts of possession of cocaine and one count of delivery of cocaine, all felonies.
The teenager says he's innocent, his attorney arguing it's a case of mistaken identity. He is being tried as an adult and faces a possible 15-year prison sentence if convicted.
As a New York Met, his father, Dwight Gooden Sr., now 39, was tossed out of baseball three times for cocaine use.
The younger Gooden's arrest came not long after he transferred to Hillsborough High School to get away from taunts he had been receiving at King High about his baseball star father.
Hillsborough High is the same school where, in the early 1980s, a skinny Dwight Gooden Sr. honed his baseball skills to make an immediate jump to the big leagues. Hillsborough High is also where the young phenom began using the drug that wracked his career.
Last month's drug arrest of Dwight Jr. punctuates a period of difficulty for the young man arising partly from acrimony between his father and his mother, Debra Denise Hamilton, 37. The two have been fighting over money and parental responsibility in a court case that stretches over 15 years.
It began in 1987, when Dwight Jr. was still an infant and Hamilton filed a paternity action seeking support. She was a $3.25-an-hour clerk for Kelly Services. Gooden Sr. was making $1.32-million in his third year with the Mets. He agreed to pay her $125 a week.
In November 1987, four days after marrying Monica Harris, Gooden Sr. filed to obtain custody of his son. Hamilton fired back with court papers describing Gooden Sr.'s "problems with alcohol and drug abuse" and his arrest after an altercation with Tampa police.
Hamilton retained custody of her son. A year later, Gooden Sr. agreed to increase support to $1,000 a month.
In 1994, Hamilton returned to court to ask for more. By then, she was a $6-an-hour clerk for Florida Health and Rehabilitative Services. Gooden Sr. was in the midst of a $5.15-million-a-year, three-year contract. After several months, he agreed to begin paying $2,500-a-month support and to purchase a $60,000 home for Hamilton and their son.
By the spring of 2000, Hamilton was asking for more support. The 1,237-square-foot home Gooden Sr. purchased had gotten cramped. Hamilton's two sons (including Dwight Jr.), her brother and her boyfriend were making do in the two-bedroom, one-bath home. She wanted help to get something larger.
By now, Gooden Sr. was near the end of his career, making about $500,000 with the Devil Rays. He hired Stanford R. "Sandy" Solomon, a take-no-prisoners Tampa divorce lawyer, and fought back.
Gooden Sr. blamed Hamilton for poor conditions in the home and Dwight Jr.'s discipline problems and failing grades. He accused her of diverting support money for Dwight Jr. to other household expenses.
Hamilton said Dwight Jr. needed counseling because of "problems between me and his father," and said she was doing the best job she could as a parent. Hamilton also acknowledged plans to move out of the tiny, two-bedroom house into a new $96,000, four-bedroom house in Tampa Heights.
Gooden Sr.'s lawyer seized on that plan, telling a judge that Hamilton was using a portion of her support money for herself and her other son. A court later ordered the $2,500-a-month payments reduced by $842, placing that amount in a guardianship account for Dwight Jr. when he turns 20.
With the reduced support - and higher mortgage - Hamilton has had trouble making ends meet. Records show she defaulted on a credit card account in June.
Hamilton declined to discuss her son or her court battle with Gooden Sr.
Meanwhile, Dwight Jr. now faces cocaine charges. His attorney, Eric J. Kuske, says it's a case of mistaken identity.
"This was an operation where sheriff's officers were making buys on the street, but he wasn't the one who sold it," said Kuske. "These are individuals who look alike because they dress in the same style, so it's very possible you're going to make a mistake.
"This is a bright, intelligent young man, full of potential," Kuske said. "There's no doubt in my mind he'll be found not guilty of this."