Former Dallas Cowboy John "Golden" Richards pleaded guilty Tuesday to seven misdemeanor forgery counts after a plea agreement with county prosecutors.
Sentencing on the charges is scheduled for March 23 before 3rd Circuit Judge William A. Thorne Jr. Richards faces fines of up to $2,500 for each count and as much as seven years in jail.Richards, 42, admitted forging 26 checks drawn on his parents' checking account in October 1992, according to a probable-cause statement filed in court. The $664 in checks was used to buy prescription painkillers and for office visits at the Family Medical Center, West Jordan, with Dr. Robert Davis. The original third-degree-felony charges were reduced to class A misdemeanors in the plea agreement.
Richards caught the game-winning touchdown pass for the Cowboys in Super Bowl XII against the Denver Broncos. He played football for Granite High, BYU and Hawaii before being drafted by the Cowboys in 1973. He later played for the Chicago Bears and the Broncos.
He was arrested on the forgery charges in December.