Former track star jailed on drug charge

NORFOLK, Va., May 2 (UPI) -- Former U.S. Olympic champion Tim Montgomery has been indicted on a federal heroin distribution charge, U.S. authorities said.

His indictment occurred earlier this week at U.S. District Court in Norfolk, Va.

The 33-year-old Montgomery was a sprinter at Norfolk State University and once was called "the fastest human on Earth."

He won a gold medal in the 400 relay at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney and a silver medal in the 400 relay at the 1996 Olympics in Athens, Greece.

He once was married to disgraced women's track and field standout Marion Jones.

"They said I sold 100 grams of heroin to an informant," he told The Virginian-Pilot newspaper in Norfolk, Va., in an interview from the Portsmouth, Va., city jail, where he is being held pending a bond hearing Monday.

Federal authorities made no public announcement about his arrest.

Montgomery and Jones, who were married in 2003 when their son, Tim Jr., was born, also are implicated in a check-kiting conspiracy in New York.