Tampabay.com
AUGUST 19, 2008

Hornsby charged with four misdemeanor counts

Former Gator safety Jamar Hornsby on Monday was charged with four misdemeanor counts of unauthorized use of a credit card by the Alachua County State Attorney's Office.

The 21-year-old was arrested last May after police alleged he charged approximately $3,000 on the BP credit card of Ashley Slonina, a Florida student that was killed in an Oct. 2007 motorcycle accident, along with UF walk-on Michael Guilford.

Hornsby is being charged with using the card on Nov. 2, 2007, Jan. 14, 2008, March 6, 2008 and April 24, 2008.

According to the State Attorney's Office, each count is punishable by up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine.

Hornsby was dismissed from the team immediately after his arrest. Court records initially claimed Hornsby used the card nearly 70 times, 33 of those in Alachua County.

But his attorney, Huntley Johnson, said Hornsby did not steal the card, and insisted Slonina, before her death, had given him permission to use the card. Hornsby is said to have believed the card was a prepaid card that would cease to be approved once it reached its limit.

State Attorney Bill Cervone said there was no evidence to prove Hornsby stole the card, which police never recovered from Hornsby. The four charges are based on instances when the card was used for several purchases within minutes of each other, suggesting it may have been used by Hornsby for someone else, who had not been given permission.

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