Former El Modena Football Player Sentenced to 9 Days on Drug Charge

A Brigham Young University football player was ordered Friday to serve nine days in jail on a felony charge of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud.

However, U.S. District Judge George E. Ballif said he would review the case of Steven D. Sanders in six months and any remaining punishment and charges may be dropped at that time.

Sanders, 22, who played at El Modena High School and Rancho Santiago College, was arrested last September in Orem, Utah, while attempting to pass an altered prescription for the painkiller Percodan. Sanders has been reinstated at BYU and will allowed to complete his final year of eligibility with the football team.

Ballif ruled that if Sanders, who pleaded guilty to the charge in January, abided by the terms of his probation--which include nine days in the Utah County Jail and $625 in fines--charges would be dismissed in August.