Joe Horn, previous New Orleans Saints receiver, gets probation in health treatment fraud situation | Courts

Previous New Orleans Saints football star Joe Horn was sentenced to three yrs of probation Wednesday following pleading guilty in Lexington, Kentucky, to defrauding a wellbeing care plan for retired Countrywide Soccer League players, his attorney stated.

Horn’s punishment, handed down by U.S. District Judge Karen Caldwell, whom President George W. Bush nominated to the courtroom, was properly beneath the 10- to 16-thirty day period prison sentence that federal prosecutors had requested. The sentence also closes the guide on an nearly two-calendar year legal saga that ensnared one of the most colorful characters in Saints heritage.

Horn acknowledged falling on hard instances and bilking the software of $149,775 in fake promises submitted by way of the Gene Upshaw NFL Player Overall health Reimbursement prepare, administered in Lexington. Horn’s legal professional, Robert Beeman, termed his sentence “a pretty superior outcome” through a brief phone interview.

“We’re certainly happy,” Beeman reported.

Horn was also purchased to serve at minimum 200 hrs of group service, Beeman extra. Other probation disorders were not right away accessible, but Beeman claimed Horn won’t have to pay out any restitution mainly because he has already “repaid each nickel he took.”

Court information that prosecutors submitted forward of Wednesday’s sentencing alluded to Horn’s outstanding lifetime story. He was the son of an abusive and alcoholic father, was raised in North Carolina by his mom and maternal grandmother, and parlayed a stint at Mississippi’s Itawamba Community University into an 11-calendar year NFL occupation that began in 1996.

The broad receiver performed various seasons for Kansas City and joined the Saints in 2000, contributing to New Orleans teams that experienced the club’s initially playoff victory in 2000 and attained its very first-at any time conference championship video game in 2006, the year after the federal levee failures all through Hurricane Katrina ruined the town.

Horn established team acquiring data for the Saints, punctuating lots of of his catches with flamboyant, herky-jerky dance moves. Nicknamed “Hollywood,” he gained several Professional Bowl appearances and authored a single of the franchise’s most memorable moments when he celebrated a landing throughout a 2003 primetime match by pulling out a concealed mobile phone from beneath the goalposts. He held it up to his ear and pretended to connect with his son, Jaycee, who now plays cornerback for the Carolina Panthers.

Following taking part in one time with the Atlanta Falcons in 2007 and retiring, Horn commenced working with “lingering effects from … concussions suffered in the course of his NFL vocation,” prosecutors wrote in an Oct. 18 memo. He coached junior college soccer and formulated and offered a barbecue sauce named “Bayou 87,” which paid homage to his jersey variety with the Saints.

Still he struggled economically and commenced submitting untrue statements to the Upshaw program, which delivered tax-totally free reimbursements for out-of-pocket medical charges not coated by insurance policy for previous players, their spouses or dependents, prosecutors claimed.

A former Chiefs teammate, Tamarick Vanover, approached Horn in 2018 and presented to aid him make even additional funds from the retirement plan in trade for a kickback. Horn accepted, allowing Vanover and former fellow NFL receiver Donald “Reche” Caldwell effectively post a claim on his behalf for $52,000.

Horn compensated $11,000 of that to Vanover and then sent faux claims on his personal behalf for the remaining $97,775 that he ripped off from the plan, prosecutors said.

Horn, Vanover and Reche Caldwell ended up among 10 retired NFL gamers billed in December 2019 with scamming the Upshaw program.

Horn pleaded guilty that same month to conspiracy to dedicate wellness treatment fraud. At the time, he issued an apology to his buddies, loved ones and fans, declaring, “Unfortunately, we do not get to figure out the consequences of sick-advised decisions.”

In the days major up to Horn’s sentencing, a qualified general public accountant from Mandeville wrote to the decide and pleaded for leniency on behalf of the ex-Saints star, in accordance to a letter submitted in court.

Maureen O’Rourke wrote in the letter that she satisfied Horn early in his Saints tenure though she labored as the chief economic officer of a fitness facility in Mandeville. A summer season camp hosted by the facility had brought about 70 little ones concerning the ages of 5 and 12 to enjoy a Saints coaching camp observe, but the session was rained out, leaving lots of of the children in tears.

The buses were being obtaining ready to pull absent when Horn approached and saved the working day by giving shirts, balls, helmets and any other equipment that the kids wished him to autograph, O’Rourke said.

“I will never ever fail to remember Joe’s unselfish kindness that day,” wrote O’Rourke, who mentioned she despatched with letter with no at any time speaking to either Horn or Beeman. “He would better serve the group in some sort of provider as opposed to time used in a jail mobile.

“He touched quite a few hearts that day, including mine.”

A full of 14 other folks have pleaded guilty as element of the circumstance. Reche Caldwell had pleaded not responsible in advance of he was shot useless late very last year in the course of a robbery.

Some of people who pleaded guilty ended up sentenced to property arrest or between two months to more than a 12 months in jail.

Horn is a member of both the Saints and Louisiana Sports Halls of Fame.