Ex-OSU star guilty of lesser charge

4/30/2014

COLUMBUS — Former Ohio State star cornerback Bradley Roby will have to answer last-minute questions from interested NFL teams after pleading guilty Tuesday to a reduced charge of physical control of a motor vehicle while under the influence of drugs or alcohol, according to Franklin County Court records.

Roby was sentenced to 180 days in jail, but the punishment was suspended on the condition he complete a three-day driver-intervention course. He also was fined $375.

A projected first-round pick in next month’s NFL draft, Roby initially was charged with operating a vehicle while intoxicated after police spotted him passed out in his car early on April 20 in downtown Columbus.

An officer had to call a medic after being unable to jar Roby awake, according to the police report. Roby then was arrested after failing a field sobriety test.

Roby, 21, told police he had consumed a “few drinks” and had not used drugs. His Breathalyzer test revealed a blood alcohol content of 0.008 — or 10 times below Ohio’s legal limit. At one point, according to the report, he told police, “You are going to cost me my millions of dollars.”

Roby plans to complete the intervention course this week. In a statement released to several media outlets, his agent, Michael Perrett said, “Though my client, Bradley Roby, maintains his innocence and feels he would have been completely exonerated had he taken this matter to trial, Bradley has accepted the prosecutor’s offer of a reduced charge to ‘physical control’ to bring closure and finality to this situation ahead of next week’s NFL draft.”