Remember 1st Overall Pick Brien Taylor?

Being reported originally by John Swartz

BEAUFORT -- Brien Taylor was once paid more than $1 million by the New York Yankees, but it was the cash that cops paid him that landed him behind bars.

A former baseball standout at East Carteret High School who was drafted by the New York Yankees was arrested on drug charges.

Taylor, 40, was arrested Thursday in Beaufort and now faces a host of cocaine charges after a joint effort between the Carteret County Sheriff's Office and the Morehead City Police Department. Investigators said they bought "a large quantity of cocaine and crack cocaine from Taylor over a period of several months."

The former No. 1 selection in the Major League Baseball draft now faces a slew of charges involving the possession of and the intent to sell and distribute cocaine.

Taylor was placed in the Carteret County Jail under a $275,000 bond and is scheduled for a court appearance Friday morning.

Taylor, a native of Beaufort, was selected No. 1 overall in the 1991 amateur draft, and signed his first contract for more than $1 million. Taylor, however, never made it to the Major League level. An arm injury he sustained in a fight cut the left-hander's career short.