Ex-UVa football player to spend 4 days in jail

A former University of Virginia football player and a UVa student are expected to report to the Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail today after pleading guilty to charges in connection with a student ID theft.

J’Courtney Rydell Williams, 19, and Lester Guy Spellman III, 18, will spend four days in jail and pay $42.40 in restitution to satisfy the sentence handed down in Albemarle General District Court. Williams pleaded guilty today to credit card fraud - a misdemeanor - and Spellman pleaded guilty to petit larceny - also a misdemeanor.

Police had accused Williams and Spellman of taking a student’s ID card and using it to buy items from vending machines. Commonwealth’s Attorney Denise Lunsford said both men were first-time offenders.

“They were treated the same way as anyone else,” Lunsford said.

Williams and Spellman were sentenced to 30 days in jail, but 26 of them were suspended pending good behavior for the next two years.

Williams, who has transferred to Hampton University and will start in June, said he would be playing football this year. The former red shirt linebacker for UVa said he made a “critical mistake.”

“At first I really didn’t see any harm in a student ID,” Williams said. “… That $20 affected the rest of my future.”