CHICAGO, June 18 (UPI) -- Former Chicago Bears fullback Roland Harper was awaiting sentencing Wednesday after pleading guilty to participating in a minority set-aside hiring scam.
Harper, who is black, pleaded guilty Tuesday to fraud charges for allowing his construction company to be used a front by a white-owned landscaping firm to obtain contracts set aside by the Chicago Public Schools for minority-owned businesses, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Harper, 55, struck a deal with prosecutors to recommend that he serve 16 months in prison. He is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 14, the newspaper said.
As president of Rohar Construction, Harper admitted to pocketing $80,000 in the scheme with Aidan Monahan, owner of Monahan Landscape Co. of Arlington Heights, Ill. Monahan, 58, of Bensenville, Ill., pleaded guilty last week to mail fraud and faces up to nearly five years in prison, the Tribune reported.
Harper played for the Bears from 1975 to 1982, when he was teammates with fellow running back and National Football League Hall of Famer Walter Payton, who died in 1999.
