Just as the Baltimore Ravens were exhaling after the murder trial of linebacker Ray Lewis in Atlanta during the summer of 2000, F.B.I. officials were investigating the team's next legal nightmare, also in Atlanta.

According to an indictment that was unsealed yesterday, Ravens running back Jamal Lewis was caught in a drug trafficking sting and has been charged with conspiracy and possession with the intent to distribute at least five kilograms of cocaine from June 23 to July 19, 2000.

The indictment was announced by United States Attorney William S. Duffey, who said Lewis, 25, and Angelo Jackson, 26, a childhood friend, were charged as part of an investigation of drug trafficking in certain areas of Atlanta. Lewis was also charged with using a cellphone in the conspiracy. No cocaine was purchased, according to the affidavit.

An F.B.I. special agent, Hoyt A. Mahaley Jr., testified before a grand jury, according to the affidavit, that Lewis and Jackson were caught on audiotape trying to buy cocaine from an undercover source with intent to resell it for a profit.

According to Mahaley's affidavit accompanying the indictment, ''This intelligence has been corroborated through telephone conversations and undercover meetings with these narcotics traffickers.''

At the time of the alleged crime, Lewis, who had graduated from Douglass High School in Atlanta, was waiting to attend his first N.F.L. training camp. The Ravens had drafted Lewis in the first round after he played three seasons at the University of Tennessee.

Since then, Lewis has become one of the N.F.L.'s top running backs. He set a single-game rushing record with 295 yards against Cleveland last season and fell 40 yards short of Eric Dickerson's single-season rushing record, 2,105 yards.

Ravens officials were caught by surprise by Lewis's indictment. ''From what we know of the charges, these seem out of character for the Jamal we know,'' the Ravens said in a statement.

Lewis's lawyer, Ed Garland, would not comment, but he will hold a news conference today in Atlanta. Lewis is also expected to turn himself in to Atlanta authorities today.

''Mr. Lewis wants everybody to know that he did nothing wrong,'' Garland said. ''He was not part of any drug deal and any connection that he was was false.''

Garland, not coincidentally, defended Ray Lewis against murder charges stemming from a post-Super Bowl fight in the Buckhead neighborhood of Atlanta in 2000. Lewis and two other men were accused in the deaths of Jacinth Baker and Richard Lollar in a street fight. In the middle of the trial, Ray Lewis accepted a plea bargain: he pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice and promised to testify against his co-defendants in return for the murder charges being dropped.

Garland is also the lawyer for Atlanta Thrashers forward Dany Heatley, who was charged with vehicular homicide in the crash last fall that killed his teammate Dan Snyder.

Jamal Lewis's charges emerged from a larger drug investigation in Atlanta, staged by the F.B.I.'s High Intensity Drug Trafficking Task Force, which Duffey said had resulted in more than 30 convictions. Indictments have been made in bunches since the investigation began, Lewis's and Jackson's being only the latest. The investigation has concentrated on the Bowen Homes and Bankhead Highway areas of Atlanta.

According to Mahaley's testimony, a ''cooperating source'' operating undercover as a major narcotics supplier contacted Lewis, who arranged a meeting with him, the source and Jackson at a Houston's Restaurant on June 23 to discuss the transaction. Mahaley said all the conversations were tape-recorded.

After several more conversations involving Lewis, future meetings, according to Mahaley, were attended only by Jackson and not Lewis. Jackson was arrested at one of those meetings on July 19, 2000, and the police said a 40-caliber semiautomatic handgun was found in his car.

The charges, however, remained sealed until yesterday, when Jackson turned himself in, pleaded not guilty at his arraignment and was released on $25,000 bond.