Player faces charges of point-shaving

A former University of Toledo basketball player has been charged with point-shaving, according to a federal bill of information filed in U.S. District Court in Detroit.

Sammy Villegas, who played basketball for four years at Toledo and has followed that with a professional career in his native Puerto Rico, is accused of shaving points in games during the 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons.

Villegas, a guard who finished his college career in 2006, also paid another player who took part in the point-shaving ring, prosecutors said.

JURISPRUDENCE

USC recruit is found guilty

A Compton jury Wednesday found USC linebacker recruit Maurice Simmons guilty of two felonies and a misdemeanor in connection with a street robbery in March.

Simmons’ codefendant, Lamont Lee Hall, was also found guilty.

Simmons, a Compton Dominguez High graduate, had been charged with felony robbery, assault with a firearm and a misdemeanor charge of allowing someone to bring a gun into his car. He is in police custody without bail, pending sentencing scheduled for Aug. 28. He faces a maximum 7 1/2 years in prison, according to prosecutor Patrick Frey.

Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies arrested Simmons and Hall after they robbed a man at gunpoint on a Compton street. Though Simmons was not alleged to have handled the gun, authorities said they found the firearm and the victim’s belongings in his car.

USC Coach Pete Carroll called it “the most unfortunate news we could get for Maurice and for his family. . . . We feel sorry for everything they have to go through.” Simmons is not expected to be admitted to the university.

-- David Wharton

MISCELLANY

Self signs $30-million deal

Bill Self, the Kansas basketball coach who guided the Jayhawks to their first NCAA championship in 20 years, signed a 10-year, $30-million contract.

Hall of Fame Racing, a struggling one-car NASCAR Sprint Cup team, released driver J.J. Yeley and said Brad Coleman would replace him in the No. 96 Toyota starting with the Aug. 17 race at Michigan International Speedway.

-- Jim Peltz

The Clippers acquired forward Steve Novak from the Houston Rockets, who will have the option to exchange second-round picks with the Clippers in the 2011 NBA draft.

PASSINGS

Kuehl, 70, helped develop A’s

Karl Kuehl, a baseball scout, coach, manager and player development specialist known for his contributions to the Oakland Athletics teams that won three pennants, died at 70, of pulmonary fibrosis in a Scottsdale, Ariz., hospital.

Players that came out of the A’s farm system in the years Kuehl worked there included Jose Canseco, Mark McGwire, Scott Brosius and Miguel Tejada.