OSU's Guilford Pleads Guilty To Assault
Suspended Player Avoids Trial
POSTED: 11:55 am EDT August 12, 2004
UPDATED: 12:09 pm EDT August 12, 2004
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A suspended Ohio State football player pleaded guilty Thursday to a misdemeanor count of assault, avoiding trial on more serious charges, NewsChannel 4's Beth Dal Ponte reported.
Running back Ira Bell-Guilford (pictured, right) had been charged along with teammate Louis Irizarry in the robbery of an Ohio State student in May. The two were accused of jumping the student and taking his wallet.
Bell-Guilford was scheduled to go to trial Sept. 2, but pleaded guilty to the lesser charge and is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 1, Dal Ponte reported. He faces a maximum penalty of six months in jail and/or a $1,000 fine.
Irizarry's case is still pending.
Kenneth Whitwell, 20, of Brecksville, reported that he was assaulted on campus at 3 a.m. on May 1, according to police records. Whitwell said he was attacked by two men who stole his wallet and drove away.
Irizarry and Bell-Guilford were stopped in a car soon after, not far from where Whitwell was robbed.
Coach Jim Tressel suspended both Irizarry and Bell-Guilford indefinitely after their arrests on the robbery charges.
Irizarry has transferred to Youngstown State, but is not playing football. He was put on probation at Ohio State after he was found guilty of assault, negligent assault and disorderly conduct for his involvement in a fight in a campus dormitory last October. He also spent three days in jail.