Affidavit Links Rams’ Henley to Drug Network : Narcotics: Statement made by a DEA agent says the player’s Brea home was distribution site for cocaine shipments.

The Brea home of Los Angeles Rams cornerback Darryl Henley was the distribution point for a cross-country narcotics network that made cocaine shipments to Atlanta and Memphis, according to court records.

An affidavit prepared by a Drug Enforcement Administration agent seeking a search warrant for Henley’s home said Henley recruited Tracy Donaho, 20, then a Rams cheerleader, to pick up packages from his residence in the 2100 block of Wildflower Circle in Brea and deliver them to various locations across the country.

After Donaho was arrested for transporting 26 pounds of cocaine to Atlanta in mid-July, she told investigators she thought she was transporting large sums of money, not narcotics, for Henley and one of his friends, Willie McGowen.

Henley, 26, was the starting cornerback for the Los Angeles Rams until earlier this week, when news spread of his suspected involvement in the drug network, and he asked to be placed on leave from the team.

In court documents, federal authorities said they have identified Henley as the “source of the cocaine� that was seized from Donaho in Atlanta, and have referred to him as a “drug dealer.�

Henley’s attorneys said he had nothing to do with the drug shipment, nor does he use narcotics.

The search warrant affidavit quoted Donaho as telling DEA agents that Henley approached her in April of this year with an offer to make money transporting “large sums of currency� for McGowen. She agreed, and on Henley’s instructions picked up a package from his home in June. Donaho said she was met there by a man she did not know who gave her a $100 bill and she mailed the package at Atlanta.

By tracing Express Mail records of the U.S. Postal Service, authorities were later able to determine that the package went to Antonio Woods, “an individual suspected of being a cocaine distributor� from Memphis.

A few weeks later, Henley reportedly instructed Donaho to prepare for a late-evening flight to Memphis to deliver a package she would carry aboard. Henley said reservations had been made for her under the name “Maggie Williams.� When Donaho arrived at Henley’s home at 10 p.m., no one was there, so she entered Henley’s home through the garage, using a pass code.

At midnight, a man who called himself Eric arrived and went upstairs while Donaho waited downstairs. She said she heard the sound of tape being pulled from a roll as if Eric was wrapping something. He came downstairs carrying a new suitcase and drove her to the Ontario Airport, telling her she would be traveling with a Rex Henley, who is Darryl Henley’s 30-year-old uncle.

Rex Henley and Donaho missed their intended flight. But later that morning, at 5 a.m., Rex Henley and Donaho drove with McGowen to the Burbank Airport, where Donaho and McGowen caught a flight to Dallas. McGowen asked Donaho to pretend she didn’t know him. When they arrived in Dallas, Donaho boarded a flight to Memphis, and McGowen said he was flying on to Atlanta to meet Darryl Henley.

Once in Memphis, Donaho called Darryl Henley’s beeper, and when he returned her call he told her to stay put and that someone would be collecting the package at the airport. A man she did not know showed up, drove her to an apartment, took the package she had transported, and gave her $600 to purchase an airline ticket back to Los Angeles.

On July 9, Henley told Donaho to go to a Western Union station in Yorba Linda, where she could pick up an undisclosed sum that had been wired there as her payment for delivering the suitcase.

Five days later, Henley and McGowen asked her to make a delivery to Atlanta. She was again asked to go to Henley’s home and meet Rex Henley. When she arrived, Rex Henley told her the trip from John Wayne Airport had been canceled.

But the next day, McGowen told her to book her own flight to Atlanta. Before leaving, she picked up $700 from a Western Union office in Anaheim, drove to Henley’s house where Rex Henley gave her a suitcase before driving her to the airport. She left from Ontario Airport at 1:05 a.m.

When she paid cash for her ticket, that attracted the attention of a DEA agent on duty at Ontario airport, who alerted agents in Atlanta that she would be arriving there that morning.

When she was intercepted and questioned by DEA agents waiting in Atlanta, she disavowed ownership of the bag, which she left at the airport. Donaho was permitted to leave, and agents obtained a search warrant which led to the discovery of 12 kilograms (26.4 pounds) of cocaine inside.

Later that day, Donaho returned to the airport with Henley in an attempt to claim the bag. She was promptly arrested for possession of narcotics, but Henley, whose suspected involvement was still unknown to federal agents, was permitted to leave.

Four days after her arrest, Donaho was released on bail. Later, the cocaine possession charges against her were dropped, but federal authorities retained the right to refile the charges at any time, court documents show.

Six weeks passed before three men confronted Henley at gunpoint at Rams Park, the team’s practice field, on Sept. 8. Henley knew one of the men, a friend named Eric Manning. The other two were later identified as Rafael (Ralph) Bustamante and Alejandro Cuevas.

The men demanded money from Henley, and then took his white 1992 Lexus 400 SE and a Glock 9-millimeter semiautomatic handgun stashed in his car. Henley later told NFL security that the men had threatened his mother’s life if he did not come up with money he owed them for a cocaine deal.

Manning was shot to death with a 9-millimeter handgun the following morning at 1:10 outside his apartment in Covina. A white car was seen racing from the scene.

According to another affidavit filed in connection with the case, a Los Angeles County detective named Frank Durazo, who is investigating Manning’s murder, has tied Manning, Henley and McGowen to the cocaine seizure in Atlanta.

“Detective Durazo said that persons involved in the investigation positively identified Ralph Bustamante as the person who was supplying narcotics to Eric Manning, Willie McGowen and Darryl Henley,� the affidavit says.

Cuevas, Bustamante, his brother Moises Heredia and James Saenz all were arrested last week and charged with conspiracy to commit extortion by threatening violence.

The government alleges that the four men threatened to kill Henley and his mother if they did not get $360,000 they claimed they were owed for the cocaine seized in Atlanta.

Cuevas, Saenz and Heredia were arrested after a federal undercover agent arranged a meeting at a Covina restaurant where the money was supposed to be delivered. Bustamante surrendered a few days later. All four, being held in a federal detention center in Los Angeles without bail, are expected to be indicted next week.

Through their attorneys, all have denied involvement in the alleged extortion.

Times staff writers Eric Malnic and Henry Weinstein contributed to this report.