ROCK HILL, S.C.,None — A former Northwestern High School and University of South Carolina football great has agreed to plead guilty to bankruptcy fraud in U.S. District Court in Columbia.
Rick Sanford, who in 1979 was the first USC football player in university history to be an NFL first-round draft pick, is waiting to enter a guilty plea before a judge and then be sentenced, according to court papers.
Sanford, 54, could be sentenced to five years in federal prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release, according to the plea agreement. Dates for the formal guilty plea and the sentencing have not been set.
Sanford and his attorney, John Barton of Columbia, declined comment.
Specifically, Sanford agreed to plead guilty to an "information" charging him with omitting from his bankruptcy petition a $70,000 ownership interest in a Vail, Colo., condominium. An "information" is a federal charge the defendant does not dispute. In agreeing to plead guilty, Sanford waived his right to be indicted and go to trial.
U.S. Attorney Bill Nettles said, "The information speaks for itself" and declined further comment.
These days, Sanford is an Irmo chiropractor and has been a guest commentator during college football season on Teddy Heffner's local AM radio sports talk show.
"He's a great guy, a great commentator, a great athlete, a good friend, and we all have problems," Heffner said. "I'd be in his corner anytime he needed me."
Sanford, born in Rock Hill, had a storied football career. Attending USC on a football scholarship, he quickly became a standout defensive back. Following the 1978 season, he was chosen as an All-American.
In the 1979 football draft, Sanford was chosen 25th overall -- well ahead of quarterback legend Joe Montana, who wasn't taken until the third round.
Sanford played for the New England Patriots and was named to the 1983 All-Pro team. The play for which he is best remembered is a 1982 interception at Chicago's Soldier Field that he returned 99 yards for a touchdown. In 1998, he was elected to the S.C. Athletic Hall of Fame.
Once out of football, Sanford parlayed his sports career into a chiropractic practice, which he started in 1990.
"As a result of his outstanding football career, Dr. Sanford received numerous injuries and is well-known in the sports field for his ability to rehabilitate injuries," according to literature on his chiropractic Internet site.
By February 2009, when he filed for bankruptcy, Sanford had accumulated assets of $2.1 million and liabilities of $2.8 million, according to papers filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court.
Sanford filed a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, also called a "liquidation bankruptcy." Generally known as the most efficient kind of bankruptcy, it calls for paying creditors as much as possible from the assets and then canceling all debts.
His listed assets included his $990,000 interest in his Chapin home, his $450,000 interest in another piece of real estate in Chapin, a $280,000 interest in a condominium at Village at Sandhill and a $105,000 interest in a timeshare at Daufuskie Island Resident's Club. His interest in two Lexuses, one BMW, two Jeep Cherokees, and a 22-foot motorboat were valued at approximately $114,000.
Sanford's average monthly expenses were $13,070, and his income was $13,656. However, the filing says his yearly income from his chiropractic practice had declined from $225,925 in 2007 to $186,839 in 2008.
On the day he filed for bankruptcy, Sanford signed a paper declaring under penalty of perjury that his representation of assets and liabilities was accurate.
However, three months later, in May 2009, the U.S. trustee in the matter filed a complaint against Sanford, alleging he made misrepresentations about his financial status and that he "knew or should have known" he didn't report everything he should have in his original filing.
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