Reports indicate Lamar Odom used cocaine, 10 sex enhancement tablets

PAHRUMP, Nev. (KABC) -- During a news conference Wednesday afternoon, Nye County, Nevada Sheriff Sharon Wehrly said reports indicated Lamar Odom had used cocaine and taken 10 tablets of sex performance enhancement supplements.

The 35-year-old was found unconscious Tuesday afternoon at the Love Ranch brothel in Crystal, Nevada, about 70 miles from Las Vegas.

Dennis Hof, who owns the Love Ranch brothel and other legal brothels in Nevada, said his staff had picked up Odom from a home in Las Vegas on Saturday. He said Odom had been taking herbal Viagra and had drunk part of a bottle of cognac since arriving.

At Wednesday's press conference, authorities played the 911 call in which employees from the ranch said Odom had been using cocaine, but had not done it since Saturday, and that he had used the sex enhancement tablets over a three-day period.

Two women at the ranch went to check on Odom and found him face down and unconscious.

"He was unconscious, but breathing. He had blood coming from his nose and his mouth along with a white substance," Wehlry said.

Paramedics arrived and were able to stabilize Odom. At 6 feet 10 inches, he was too tall to fit in the helicopter that was available so he was driven to Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center.

"This is just horrific. We're all in shock. Get well Lamar, come back out and let's have some fun," Hof said.

Investigators obtained a blood sample under a search warrant to determine if Odom suffered a drug or alcohol overdose, Wehrly said. If Odom did have drugs in his system, he could face illegal drug possession charges.

Odom is on life support but improving, according to Rev. Jesse Jackson who visited the former NBA and reality TV star at a Las Vegas hospital Wednesday morning.

"Apparently from what the doctor said, he was much better off today than yesterday. He at least has some responsiveness now," Jackson said. "He's got tubes in him now but we felt inspired by his presence."

"We're just holding hands and hoping he can bounce back," Jackson added.

Odom's estranged wife Khloe Kardashian has been by his side, along with her mom Kris Jenner and sister Kim Kardashian.

Hof said a publicist for the Kardashians asked him not to talk to the media.

"They said, 'Please, don't do that. We'd rather have Khloe say what needs to be said,' I told her to go to hell," said Hof.

Kobe Bryant, who exited Tuesday's exhibition game in Las Vegas in the third quarter for a lower leg contusion, immediately paid Odom a visit.

Odom's personal trainer, Fareed Samad, says Odom had recently been involved in text message arguments with Kardashian and that sent him on a downward spiral.

"He loves that family, he loves her, and they took him in as a family so that really did a lot to him. That kind of took him over the edge so we tried to keep him motivated, but it wasn't physical, it was more mental," Samad said.

Odom last played in the NBA in 2013 with the Los Angeles Clippers. He spent the best years of his career with the Los Angeles Lakers, winning two championship rings and the NBA's Sixth Man of the Year award in 2011.

Current L.A. Lakers have been showing their support following Odom's hospitalization.

"It's tough. It's tough because these guys were real close to him here, and the Laker family really loved him," Lakers guard Nick Young said. "For anybody to be down like that and go through so much, it's tough. Your heart goes out to him."

Lakers coach Byron Scott also expressed his support.

"Obviously, our hearts and our thoughts and our prayers are with Lamar and his family," Scott said. "I obviously feel for him and hope that he'll be OK."

"I don't see him through the prism of choices he has made," said former Laker Derek Fisher. "I view him through the heart and soul of the person he really is.

A visibly distraught Metta World Peace, who grew up with Odom in Brooklyn and played with him on the Lakers, was left speechless upon hearing the news.

"I don't even know what to say. There's not one word that I can say right now that's going to make sense. I don't know what to say right now," he said.

Dwayne Wade, Odom's teammate in Miami, tweeted his support and prayers.

"I pray this morning for my brother. Dear God he's one of the good ones. PLEASE watch over him and listen to his heart speak #PrayersForLamar," Wade said.

Odom emerged as one of the most promising basketball talents of his generation after a difficult childhood in Queens, where his mother died of cancer when he was 12 and his estranged father was addicted to heroin. Despite his accomplishments on the court, Odom's life never seemed free of struggle and tragedy, most tragically the death of his infant son in 2006.

After seven years with the Lakers, Odom felt crushed in December 2011 when the club traded him. He played his final NBA game 18 months later, and his last years were a spiral of arrest, estrangement and widespread rumors of drug use.

Kardashian filed for divorce in 2013, citing irreconcilable differences, and his behavior became more erratic.

Odom has a daughter, Destiny, and a son Lamar Jr., from a previous relationship.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.