PEABODY - Former Peabody High baseball player Jeff Allison is in trouble with the law again.

Medford police arrested Allison on June 8 and charged him with unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, according to the Middlesex County District Attorney's Office.

Allison was released that same day on $100 bail, and the owner of the vehicle called the incident a "misunderstanding." But Allison now faces prosecution on a previous charge of heroin possession that could have been dropped if he had stayed out of trouble.

"With this charge, he violated his pretrial probation," said Meredith Lerner, a spokeswoman for the Middlesex County district attorney. "Now he has to proceed with both charges through the court system."

The day before his arrest, Allison was the subject of a front-page story in The Salem News, where he talked about his struggle to overcome his addiction to heroin and painkillers and restart his professional baseball career.

Allison is due in Somerville District Court on July 11 for a pretrial conference on both the heroin possession and motor vehicle charges.

Allison's latest troubles began when he borrowed his boss' car on June 8. Steve Silva, Allison's boss at the Extra Innings baseball complex in Tewksbury, said he became concerned when Allison did not return for three hours.

Silva said he called Tewksbury police, who put out a bulletin to area police departments to find the vehicle.

"I couldn't get a hold of him," Silva said. "I was worried about Jeff."

Medford police spokesman Lt. Paul Cavino did not return phone calls seeking comment about Allison's arrest. Silva called the whole incident a "misunderstanding" and said Allison is still working for him at Extra Innings.

"There's no story," Silva said yesterday. "He's in here every day. He's fine. Right now he's watching 'The Sopranos.'"

Silva said Allison would not comment on the arrest.

The motor vehicle charge is a relatively minor one, but now Allison is facing possible prosecution on the more serious charge of heroin possession. He was charged with possession of heroin on May 23, according to the Middlesex County District Attorney's Office, following an incident last August when he overdosed on heroin at a friend's home in Medford.

Allison was placed on six months' probation on that charge. The latest arrest violates that probation.

Allison was the national high school player of the year at Peabody High School in 2003 and was picked in the first round of the baseball draft by the Florida Marlins. But he has battled drug problems, including two heroin overdoses, and has been out of baseball since 2005.

Last October, he was arrested on back-to-back days in North Carolina, where he had been living, on heroin charges and possession of a stolen vehicle.

In an interview with The Salem News last week, Allison said he is back living on the North Shore and has been off drugs for six months. He said he hoped to return to baseball with the Marlins.

"I feel in control of myself for once, and I don't obsess over drinking or drugging," he said in the interview. "I'm programmed to stay motivated and do what I have to do to stay on task."