NEW YORK, April 10 (UPI) -- Disgraced U.S. sprinter Tim Montgomery has pleaded guilty to conspiracy and bank fraud.
Montgomery entered his plea just before his trial was set to start in federal court in Manhattan, the New York Post reported Tuesday. He told a judge that he was involved in a bad-check scheme with his former coach, Steve Riddick, and others.
During the hearing, he admitted that Riddick paid him $20,000 for helping with a bad check and that he tried to deposit two counterfeit checks. He faces a maximum 46-month prison term.
Montgomery's career peaked in 2002 when he set a world record at 100 meters. But two years later he was charged with using steroids and was eventually banned from competition for two years and stripped of the record.
In the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, he ran as an alternate in the heats of the men's 100-meter relay team, which won a gold medal. He failed to qualify for competition in the individual 100-meter event.
Montgomery and sprinter Marion Jones, his former girlfriend, have a 3-year-old son.
