Steve Sanders, former Brigham Young football player...

Steve Sanders, former Brigham Young football player from Orange, was sentenced to 18 months in a drug abuse treatment center for pleading guilty to prescription fraud charges.

Sanders, 23, originally was sentenced to 5 years in prison and fined $5,000, but that was suspended to 18 months in Salt Lake City’s Odyssey House drug treatment center.

Sanders already had undergone a 90-day evaluation at the Utah State Prison, after his July 13 arrest for prescription fraud at a drugstore. His stay at the drug treatment center will be evaluated after 90 days.

Saunders pleaded guilty Aug. 30 to 1 of 2 counts of prescription fraud. Prosecutors dismissed the second charge in exchange for the plea.

Sanders was dismissed from the BYU football team and expelled from the university in 1987 after his second arrest in the Provo area in connection with illegal purchases of painkiller drugs.