Barry Word, former University of Virginia tailback...

Barry Word, former University of Virginia tailback and a third-round draft pick of the New Orleans Saints, and Virginia running back Howard Petty have been charged in an extensive cocaine investigation, federal prosecutors said at Charlottesville, Va.

Word and Petty, along with former Virginia placekicker Kenny Stadlin, were charged with conspiring to distribute less than an kilogram of cocaine.

If convicted, they could be fined $250,000 and sentenced to up to 16 years in prison, U.S. Atty. John Perry Alderman said.

Petty, a senior from Annapolis, Md., was the only person charged who is still a student at the university. Stadlin graduated last spring. Word left school last year after he was suspended from the team because of academic problems.

In all, 24 people were charged by a federal grand jury that has been investigating cocaine trafficking in the Charlottesville area since last November, Alderman said.