Prescription Drug Charges Hit BYU Team

Three starters on the Brigham Young football team and a former BYU player were charged in Provo, Utah, Tuesday with third-degree felony counts involving prescription drugs.

Junior linebacker J.C. VonColln, junior tight end Trevor Molini and senior linebacker Ladd Akeo were charged with altering or forging prescriptions for controlled substances or obtaining controlled substances by fraud or misrepresentation.

Steve Sanders, a starting linebacker from Orange who had been suspended from the team and school earlier this year after his alleged involvement in a similar incident, was charged with three counts of prescription violations.

Police reports identified the drugs as percodan and percocet, pain killers unavailable without a prescription.

A university spokesman said that BYU will conduct its own investigation to determine if VonColln, Molini and Akeo will be permitted to play in Saturday’s nationally televised game against Air Force. The winner of that game will play UCLA in the Freedom Bowl Dec. 30 at Anaheim Stadium.