Ex-Gator Hornsby charged

Prosecutors filed four counts of unauthorized use of a credit card against former University of Florida safety Jamar Hornsby Monday, the State Attorney's Office reported.

Alachua County Sheriff's deputies arrested Hornsby, 21, in May and accused him of charging close to $3,000 on a credit card issued to Ashley Slonina, a UF student killed in October 2007 in a motorcycle accident. Also killed in the crash was walk-on UF football player Michael Guilford.

A redshirt sophomore at the time, Hornsby was released from the football team following his arrest.

The charges are based on the usage of a BP business gas card in November 2007 and again in January, March and April of this year, according to court records.

Officers initially reported they had been told by a relative of Slonina that Hornsby helped clean out the apartment she and Guilford had lived in.

But State Attorney Bill Cervone said further investigation did not confirm that information or evidence Hornsby stole the card. Hornsby's lawyer instead told prosecutors Slonina had given the credit card to Hornsby and told him he could use it, Cervone said.

Slonina's family noticed charges on the card and alerted officers, according to court records. The same records say Hornsby made 70 charges on the card in Alachua and Duval counties.

Based on additional investigation, however, Cervone said his office only is proceeding with charges in instances where it appears Hornsby may have let others use the card after Slonina's death.

The money charged in these cases tallies less than $200, Cervone said.

"What could be proven was charged," said State Attorney's Office spokesman Spencer Mann.

Slonina's family had hired a private investigator who videotaped the card being used at a gas pump, Mann said. The tape was provided to law enforcement and prosecutors.

Each count pending against Hornsby is a first-degree misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine, according to the State Attorney's office.

Hornsby initially had faced prosecution on a felony charge of illegal use of a credit card and a misdemeanor charge of larceny of a credit card, according to Alachua County court records.

Hornsby's lawyer, Huntley Johnson, said his client will plead not guilty and that he believes that there will be a resolution to the case without a trial.

Johnson said Hornsby is playing football at East Mississippi Junior College.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.