Trial Ordered for Ex-BYU Linebacker

Former Brigham Young football player Steve Sanders, who twice has pleaded guilty to prescription painkiller drug charges, was ordered Wednesday to stand trial on new allegations of prescription fraud.

Sanders, 23, of Orange, appeared before Judge Mark Johnson for a preliminary hearing on two counts of prescription fraud. Johnson ordered Sanders bound over for trial.

The former linebacker was kicked off the Cougar football team and expelled from BYU in 1987. He was arrested July 13, police said, for alleged purchases of painkiller drugs at a Bountiful pharmacy. Detectives claim phony prescriptions were used in the drug purchases.

Sanders was a part-time starter on the BYU football team in 1985 and twice was named Western Athletic Conference player of the week before he suffered a knee injury. He began taking painkillers at that time, under the supervision of team doctors.

In December, 1986, after pleading guilty to obtaining prescription drugs by fraud, Sanders entered a rehabilitation program and admitted his addiction to the drug Percodan. He was also fined $500 and placed on probation.

But following his arrest in April, 1987, on a second allegation of prescription fraud, Sanders was given a suspended prison sentence and ordered to serve 30 days in jail.