FARGO, N.D. —
Ten North Dakota State University football players pleaded guilty Tuesday to misdemeanor election fraud and were sentenced to community service for faking signatures ballot measure petitions that they were hired to collect.
Among the players on the nation’s top-ranked Football Championship Subdivision team who pleaded guilty Tuesday were starters Samuel Ojuri, Joshua Colville, Marcus Williams and Brendin Pierre. Players Lucas Albers, Aireal Boyd, Demitrius Gray Bryan Shepherd, Antonio Rogers, and Charles Smith III also pleaded guilty.
Each of the players was ordered to serve 360 days of unsupervised probation, complete 50 hours of community service and pay $325 in fees. All of the sentences were deferred, meaning the crime will be expunged from a player’s record if he completes the conditions of his sentence.
Without enough legitimate signatures, both proposed ballot measures — one to set up a state conservation fund and the other to legalize medical marijuana usage — were kept off the November ballot.
Judge Douglas Herman said during sentencing that the defendants were “not smart enough, grown up enough or sophisticated enough” to understand the consequences of their actions, and should not be penalized for being football players.
“I don’t want to treat them adversely, to make special examples of them,” Herman said.
Birch Burdick, the Cass County state’s attorney, echoed those thoughts outside the courtroom.
“We took no consideration of what they do outside the courthouse here other than the activity that we were charging them with,” Burdick said. “It’s irrelevant to me whether they are football players, baseball players or clerical workers in some office. It’s the behavior that we’re looking at.
“If they’ve got some administrative sanctions that they have to face because of their activity, that’s up to the university to figure out,” he said.
The players declined to comment after the hearing. Defense attorney Bruce Quick deferred questions to NDSU officials, who said they planned to issue a statement later Tuesday.
Bison head coach Craig Bohl has said the team might discipline the players but won’t suspend them.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys agreed to the sentences for seven of the 10 players. The state had recommended 1-year suspended sentences for Ojuri, Williams and Albers because of prior misdemeanors.
Burdick said the sentencing recommendation was based on past cases in the county and state, most recently in 2008 in Grand Forks.
“Those were all deferred sentences,” he said. “As a result we were looking for that same disposition here on most cases.”
Ojuri, a starting running back, had prior convictions for possession of a controlled substance and a minor alcohol violation. Williams, an All-American cornerback, had prior convictions for possession of alcohol by a minor and driving with a suspended license and without insurance. Albers, a backup tight end, had previous citation for underage possession of alcohol.
When Ojuri came before Herman, the judge said to the defense attorney, “All right Mr. Quick, this is going to be a hard one.” Quick told Herman he believed all the players deserved the same sentence, in part because they quickly admitted wrongdoing and cooperated with investigators.
“Having this on your record is a lot different than having the other offenses on your record, just because of the taint of fraud,” he said.
The judge interrupted prosecutor Tracy Peters when she began to talk about the impact of the crime.
“If you want to be a zealot with this case you don’t come in here with deferred impositions in hand,” Herman said.
Before finishing with the players, Herman emphasized that they needed to complete the community service by April 15, which would give them about three months after a possible appearance in the FCS championship game. “Must means must,” he said, telling them they would go to jail if they don’t follow orders.
The current players are among 15 people charged in the case.
Two other people also entered pleas Tuesday. Jennifer Krahn pleaded guilty and received the same sentence as the 10 players. William Brown pleaded not guilty and requested a public defender. Three former Bison players — Don Carter, Joshua Gatlin and D.J. McNorton — had their first court appearances rescheduled to Thursday
An Iowa company, Terra Strategies, reportedly hired the players and others for $9 an hour to gather signatures for two citizen initiatives. Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem said last month that many of the petition signatures submitted were copied from phone books or fabricated.
Quick said in court the players were quoted a daily rate of between $65 and $90 but were told they’d get paid only if they obtained 60 signatures per day.
Herman questioned whether the practice was legal and criticized the quota system.
“I think that may have been pushed on these individuals,” he said.
North Dakota Secretary of State Al Jaeger said workers checking the petitions noticed repeated Zip code mistakes, names “signed” in the same hand and other indications the signatures were faked. In one instance, a person signed the name of Hillary Rodham, who is better known as Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, and listed her as living at the White House, he said.
Bureau of Criminal Investigation agents interviewed the circulators, who said they could not say which signatures on their petitions were genuine and which were not, Stenehjem said. Petition circulators are required to sign a statement declaring the signatures they gathered were properly obtained.
With the suspect petitions disqualified, neither initiative had enough valid signatures to qualify for the ballot, Jaeger said.
The No. 1-ranked Bison play No. 3-rated Youngstown State Saturday at the Fargodome.
College
10 NDSU players plead guilty to petition fraud
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Sycamores bow out of MVC Tournament
Indiana State’s baseball was out of pitching, and after a loss to Wichita State on Thursday, the Sycamores were out of second-chances too at the Missouri Valley Conference baseball tournament. What the Sycamores weren’t out of was heart, guts and clutch performances from some unlikely sources. But in the end, Friday’s elimination game rematch against the Shockers was a sampling of ISU’s season overall — the Sycamores were out of luck.
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Indiana State baseball now one win from MVC Championship
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Manaea's shoulder causing him latest pain
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ISU baseball hoping Manaea can get its MVC Tournament moving in right direction
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ISU track sending record 22 to postseason
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Ort sets ISU RBI record in 16-7 win
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Bradley ends 16-game MVC losing streak against ISU
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Behind 16 hits and Manaea's pitching, ISU beats Bradley
Indiana State’s baseball team rode a wild ride of emotion on Thursday.
First came the public announcement that Bob Warn Field would host the 2014 Missouri Valley Conference Tournament. Later, Sean Manaea’s availability to pitch ISU’s series opener against Bradley was in doubt. -
Indiana State women add five transfers, including experienced D-I point guard
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ISU baseball team builds on success with 14-2 rout
Indiana State’s baseball victory over Alcorn State on Friday would take on more meaning Saturday if the Sycamores could build momentum and pick up on the good work they did in Friday’s ninth-inning rally.
Mission accomplished.
The Sycamores were aggressive from the opening inning at the plate and starting pitcher Devin Moore gave them eight valuable and effective innings on the mound as ISU defeated Alcorn State 14-2 at Bob Warn Field.
“It was a really good experience for everybody. It felt great to finally come out here and put some things together. It’s also really nice when your offense puts a lot of runs on the board,” Moore said.
Moore’s eight innings of work were as valuable as gold to an ISU team that is short on quality arms due to injury and ineffectiveness. He didn’t allow a hit until the fourth inning and one of the two runs he conceded was unearned. -
Johnson, Lyke win MVC titles for ISU
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ISU earns badly-needed win
Alcorn State’s baseball team might be ranked in the bottom 10 in RPI and Indiana State might have never lost to a Southwestern Athletic Conference team. So it wouldn’t appear that a quality win was in the offing when Alcorn State visited Bob Warn Field on Friday.
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Metro roundup: RHIT’s Evans sets Div. III record in high jump
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ISU’s Mascari and Hope win MVC track & field titles
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ISU pole vault tradition continues with help from its author
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“We have to be fearless. You can’t be afraid at all,” said Hope, who has also catapulted herself into the NCAA’s elite in the event, ranking 15th in the NCAA with her leap of 13-feet, 9 1/4. -
Sycamores searching for answers after seventh loss in eight games
These are the bad times for the Indiana State baseball team.
The will is there for the Sycamores to pull out of their worst slump of the season, but the results are not. The suffering continued on Wednesday at Bob Warn Field as Eastern Illinois defeated ISU 5-3. -
METRO ROUNDUP: ISU men's track picked first in MVC Championships, women second
The Indiana State men’s track team has won the last two Missouri Valley Conference outdoor championships, but the women have not stood on the top podium since 1999.
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Rose tallied 66.5 points for its finishes in 11 men’s sports, just ahead of Franklin with 66. Hanover was third with 53 points. -
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Manaea fights off bad hip, wet weather to toss four innings
Mother Nature has been the bane of the Indiana State baseball team’s existence all season. Eight games wiped due to weather are a testament to that. So it was no surprise, though no less disappointing, when she didn’t deal Indiana State pitcher Sean Manaea the greatest hand on Saturday as he tries to recover from a hip injury.
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ISU track enjoys big night at IU's Billy Hayes Invitational
The Indiana State Sycamores either won or finished as the top collegian in 12 events, led by the record-breaking performance of senior Brandon Pounds at the 2013 Billy Hayes Invitational Friday at Indiana University.
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