Lawrence Taylor, the ex-football great who spent his Hall of Fame career as a linebacker with the New York Giants, pleaded not guilty Wednesday during his arraignment on charges of failing to register as a sex offender.

Taylor, 63, was arrested Dec. 16 for failing to report his address change to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles and the Broward Sheriff’s Office.

Taylor’s attorney, Mark Eiglarsh, said Taylor used his home address instead of a hotel address.

Taylor must report address changes as a sex offender due to a plea agreement in a 2010 incident in which he had sex with a 16-year-old who he said claimed to be 19 years old. He pleaded guilty to sexual misconduct and sex with an underage prostitute, both misdemeanors, and was sentenced to six years’ probation.

Eiglarsh said Taylor wants the charges dropped because Taylor changed his living situation only because Pembroke Pines police suggested he stay at a nearby hotel due to martial problems. He said Taylor registered with the correct address and complied with the plea arrangement.

“He registered,” Eiglarsh said. “He just put an address down that he thought was accurate. That’s the house he’s been living in for years.

“But he spent some time 50 yards away at a hotel that’s close to his house because of the marital problems he’s having.”

“He took their instruction and still believed that his address was the home that he lived in for years, and he was still living in the pool house from time to time,” Eiglarsh said. “So, he mixed his time there. So, did he violate the law? I don’t think so.”

Taylor, a trend-setter as a pass-rushing linebacker, won two Super Bowls (XXI and XXV) with the Giants, won the NFL MVP in 1986, is a 10-time All Pro and 10-time Pro Bowl selection, and was named to the NFL’s 100th and 75th Anniversary All-Time teams, among numerous other honors.

He also competed on “Dancing With the Stars” on ABC-TV in 2009.

Taylor has had numerous brushes with the law over the years. In Florida, he’s had incidents related to cocaine, driving under the influence (a September 2016 incident in which he hit a motor home and then a highway patrol car), and a November 2009 hit-and-run crash in Miami-Dade County (he left his Cadillac Escalade after crashing into a Lexus; no one was injured).

He’s also had troubled financial dealings, declaring bankruptcy in 1998, and at least two trips to drug rehabilitation. Also, in 2016, his wife was arrested by Pembroke Pines police on a domestic violence charge for throwing an object that hit Taylor in the head.

Eiglarsh said the failure to report charges against Taylor are both felonies and carry a maximum of 10 years in prison.

Chris Perkins can be reached at [email protected].

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