After a handful of run-ins with the law, former Utah Jazz center Olden Polynice is in jail for the first time.
Third District Judge Terry Christiansen ordered Polynice on Tuesday to spend 48 hours behind bars for violating his probation for a 2000 conviction of impersonating a police officer. Polynice, 38, was taken into custody immediately and booked into the Salt Lake County Jail.
He was initially sentenced to 100 hours of community service and a $500 fine for the misdemeanor conviction. He was placed on probation for 18 months, during which time he was to have no additional violations of the law.
But jurors last summer convicted Polynice of assaulting a golfer at a Holladay golf course. In that case, he was ordered to complete 240 hours of community service
and pay an $1,850 fine.
At Tuesday's hearing, Christiansen determined the Holladay conviction violated the terms of Polynice's probation. In addition to the two days in jail, Christiansen ordered Polynice to complete anger-management treatment and cognitive restructuring therapy.
The judge also re-started the clock on Polynice's yearlong probation.
Polynice also pleaded guilty to a second count of impersonating a police officer in Salt Lake City in 2000. He was sentenced in that case to 30 hours community service and another $500 fine.
Polynice is scheduled to appear in Salt Lake County Justice Court this week on a disturbing-the-peace charge. Polynice allegedly followed Holladay City Attorney Lohra Miller out of Salt Lake's Matheson Courthouse in December, shouting obscenities and accusing her of being a racist.
E-MAIL: awelling@desnews.com