Footballer Pleads Guilty in Drug Case

A former Big 10 football star arrested in Effingham County this summer on traffic and drug charges has pleaded guilty.

26-year-old Donald Washington pleaded guilty to possession of controlled substance.  Washington was placed on 24 months probation under a first offender program that if successfully completed would erase the charges from his record.

Washington was a star at Ohio State University and had played for the Kansas City Chiefs until his release at the end of August.

State police stopped Washington's car for traveling 88MPH in a 65MPH zone on I-70 west of Effingham.  The trooper reported he smelled marijuana inside Washington's car and also found a quantity of controlled substance in Washington's sock.