Former Wests Tigers' NRL player Matthew Lodge avoids US jail sentence

Sacked Wests Tigers' NRL prop Matthew Lodge will avoid a US jail sentence despite a last minute plea from his New York victims. Photo / Getty

Sacked Wests Tigers' NRL prop Matthew Lodge will avoid a US jail sentence despite a last minute plea from his New York victims.

A Manhattan judge was told on Monday that Lodge, who was allowed to remain in Australia for the sentencing, had fulfilled the requirements of a plea deal struck a year ago that involved community service in Australia and in-patient treatment for alcohol and anger management.

If he had failed to comply he could have served a year's jail in the US.

With Lodge's US legal troubles now resolved, it sets up his potential return to the NRL.
Lodge, 21, who faced 25 years' jail before the plea deal with New York prosecutors, began his night of terror at about 4am on October 16, 2015, when he harassed and threatened two women on an Upper West Side street.

He then assaulted a good Samaritan resident, Joseph Cartright, who came to help.

Lodge, who was on holidays in the US, then forced his way into Mr Cartright's apartment where he smashed furniture and terrified Mr Cartright's wife Ruth Fowler and her young son.

Mr Cartright was in court and asked for a statement from his family, which described Lodge's "violent and horrific conduct" and the psychological damage his actions had inflicted, to be read.

The family, along with one of the other female victims, have filed a $US1.2 million ($1.7 million) civil lawsuit against Lodge.

Lodge, who was sacked by Wests Tigers after his arrest, appears set to play for the Brisbane Broncos' Queensland Rugby League feeder club, the Redcliffe Dolphins.