Former Texas A&M defensive lineman Zaycoven Henderson arrested on federal drug charges

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (KBTX) - Former Texas A&M defensive lineman Zaycoven Henderson is in the custody of the United States Marshals Service on two counts of federal drug charges, according to court documents.

According to the criminal complaint from the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Henderson has been charged with felony conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute a controlled substance and felony possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance.

Henderson was arrested on March 18 and was present for his initial appearance in court the next day in Tyler. He was assigned a public defender, waived his right to have a detention hearing, and was put in the custody of U.S. Marshals, per court records.

A message left with his public defender for comment was not returned.

The affidavit with information on the circumstances of the crimes is sealed by court order. It can only be made public by a motion to the court for the judge to consider releasing the document.

KBTX reached out to the U.S. Marshals to confirm that Henderson was still in custody, but the agency does not release information about inmates, they said. Henderson does not appear in the list of inmates presently being held by the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

In four seasons with the Aggies, from 2014 to 2017, Henderson recorded 116 tackles, including 21 ½ tackles for loss and 8 ½ sacks. The Cleveland Browns signed him as an undrafted free agent, but he did not play in any games.

While at Texas A&M, Henderson was arrested on three charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, tampering with evidence, and possession of less than two ounces of marijuana in 2017. After a verbal altercation, Henderson was accused of pointing a rifle at a woman in the parking lot of the Campus Village apartment complex and threatening to kill others, according to reports from court documents at the time of the arrest.

Henderson was later detained by police, and the rifle was found in a ditch near the apartment complex with a round in the chamber and the safety deactivated, according to the report. The incident occurred hours after A&M’s end-of-year football banquet.

The Brazos County District Clerk’s office no longer has any documentation of Henderson’s 2017 arrest, and the Brazos County District Attorney’s office was unable to provide further information about the case.

KBTX legal analyst Shane Phelps said the arrest has most likely been expunged, which requires a petition to be filed and a court hearing to decide whether to grant the expungement. Records can only be expunged if charges were dismissed, a defendant was found not guilty in a trial, or the conviction was reversed on appeal.

“They must have just rejected the charge, and then somebody filed an expunction because if they reject the charge and it’s not expunged, there’d still be a record of his arrest,” Phelps said.