Ex-Gamecock sentenced to probation for bad billing

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A former University of South Carolina football standout now working as a chiropractor has been sentenced to two years’ probation for fraudulent billing.

Attorney General Alan Wilson says 54-year-old Richard Francis Sanford was sentenced Monday after pleading guilty to billing insurance providers for services he never performed.

Last week, Sanford also received a two-year probationary sentence from a federal judge after pleading guilty to concealing assets. Prosecutors said Sanford tried to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection but intentionally omitted some of his assets from required paperwork. Prosecutors say Sanford didn’t disclose a one-quarter interest valued at $70,000 in a condominium in Vail, Colo.

Sanford’s was chosen by the New England Patriots in the first round of the 1979 NFL draft and played professionally for seven years.