Reports: Ex-Florida football players Monty Grow, Shane Matthews handed prison time

By Adam Silverstein
February 5, 2018
Reports: Ex-Florida football players Monty Grow, Shane Matthews handed prison time
Football

Image Credit: ESPNI

Former Florida Gators defensive back Monty Grow, who played three years in the NFL, is facing up to 20 years in prison for a massive health care fraud scandal that included “swindling millions from a federal program that provides medical insurance for the U.S. military,” according to the Miami Herald‘s Jay Weaver.

That total is nearly $20 million, according to the Herald, which reports the 46-year-old Grow was immediately taken into custody upon the guilty verdict being read Monday at the conclusion of his six-day trial; he will be formally sentenced on April 16. Grow was previously arrested for child abuse after locking his 3-year-old girl in a car while entering a strip club in Tampa back in 2013.

Wrapped up in the scandal, deemed a “pyramid scheme” by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Larsen in court, is former Florida quarterback Shane Matthews, who has already received a three-month prison sentence “for his bit role working for Grow’s marketing company,” per the Herald.

Matthews pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor of “misbranding a drug while held for sale,” according to Andy Staples of Sports Illustrated, who further reports that Matthews “believed he was a legitimate medical sales representative” and “immediately offered to pay back the money he was made” once the feds alerted him of wrongdoing.

Matthews, 47, a 14-year NFL veteran, received $440,000 as a member of Grow’s independent marketing team. It is unknown whether Matthews will be forced to serve his full sentence.

“He feels like he was duped and misled by his former football teammate,” Matthews’ attorney, Tim Jansen, told SI. “He believed everything he did was legitimate. He cooperated immediately and offered to pay back everything in full.”

The case is exceedingly complicated. For a thorough reporting of this story, hit the Herald link above.

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