Deputies: UF athlete used dead student's gas card

University of Florida football player Jamar Hornsby was released on his own recognizance Friday morning after he turned himself in on felony charges of credit card theft and fraudulent use of a credit card.

Alachua County sheriff's deputies said Hornsby, 21, charged close to $3,000 on a credit card issued to Ashley Slonina, a UF student who died in an October 2007 motorcycle accident in which walk-on UF football player Michael Guilford also was killed.

Meantime, Florida coach Urban Meyer on Friday kicked Hornsby off the team following his second brush with the law in the span of 13 months. In April 2007, Hornsby was cited on misdemeanor criminal mischief charges when he was accused of tossing a man onto the hood of a car during a fight, causing about $750 in damages.

"He is not part of our program," Meyer said in a statement.

Hornsby was a junior on the Gator football team, and was listed in the spring 2008 depth chart as a second-team free safety.

Hornsby made his first court appearance at 9 a.m. Friday and was released without having to post bond at 9:30 a.m. He was given a curfew of 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. in Alachua County court by Judge William E. Davis.

Hornsby's attorney, Huntley Johnson, said Hornsby likely would spend a portion of the time with his mother in Jacksonville until his next court appearance.

Johnson said that Hornsby intends to cooperate with authorities.

The card abuse began on Oct. 13, 2007, the day after Slonina's death, according to court records, and involved a BP gas card.

According to Alachua County sheriff's authorities, Hornsby made 70 charges - 33 in Alachua County and 37 in Duval County, which is where Hornsby is from.

Authorities were first alerted of the credit card fraud after Slonina's family noticed charges on the card they could not explain. The card charges spanned from October to early April, authorities said.

In explaining Hornsby's release, Judge Davis said that any money spent on a bondsman would be money that would not be available as restitution for the family. Under a deferred prosecution agreement in which his previous criminal mischief charges were dropped, Hornsby was supposed to stay out of trouble for 18 months.

Addressing the judge, sheriff's Detective Sandra Myers said the theft case was an emotional situation for the Slonina family because it was not a couple of instances of charges to their daughter's credit card but an ongoing occurrence.

In a formal complaint filed in Alachua County court earlier this week, Slonina's father, John, said Hornsby helped clean out the apartment in which his daughter and Guilford had lived the day following their death.