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Darren McCarty Says He's Getting Death Threats

DETROIT (WWJ) - Former Detroit Red Wings fan favorite Darren McCarty, 40, and his wife say they're getting death threats from former friends.

The McCartys have been granted personal protection orders against three Oakland County women and a Macomb County man. The PPO request reportedly says the former pals have sent threatening text messages, written nasty things about the couple on social media, and threatened to harm them.

The Detroit News reports both McCartys were being harassed at their jobs; he's been working for the Detroit Red Wings Alumni Association and a pawn shop, while Sheryl McCarty works at Beaumont Hospital.

Why is this happening? McCarty told the Detroit News they're being targeted because they gave up their partying lifestyle and aren't "running around with them anymore."

Two of the female PPO targets, 22 and 37 years old, were allegedly dating McCarty at the same time before he was married earlier this year.

One of the exes, Clawson resident Tonya Juhl, is fighting the claims, alleging that she is the one being harassed by McCarty and his wife. Juhl's attorney, Jeffrey Lance Abood, said he plans on asking the judge to drop the order against his client.

"My client's innocent, and she did nothing wrong," he said. "She doesn't want anything to do with the McCartys... she's an innocent bystander who got caught up in somebody else's relationship drama."

Abood said the order has caused unnecessary complications in his client's life.

"There's essentially a negative stigma when you have a PPO, and there's a lot of legal ramifications that go along with that," he said.

McCarty famously helped the Wings win the Stanley Cup four times. In his personal life, the hockey great went through rehab for alcohol addiction in the 1990s, and filed for bankruptcy in 2005.  Recently, he starred in a couple episodes of "Hard Core Pawn," a reality show about workers at the Detroit pawn shop when he works.

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