Football Star Jailed For CUHold-Up

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - (03/31/06) – A former football playeraccused of attempted armed robbery at TelComm CU in May 2004 wassentenced Wednesday to nine years in prison, nearly two years afterthe attempt took place. Omari Ali Zackery, 28, who played footballat Evangel University, pleaded guilty to attempted robbery lastApril but denied using a weapon. He was convicted on Nov. 9 ofpossessing a handgun during the attempt. Zackery and anothersuspect, who has not been identified, forced the vice president thecredit union to open the vault. When the bank official, StephenButler, said he couldn't, Zackery and the other man waited for anemployee who could. Springfield police, alerted by a silent alarm,arrived on the scene and the two men fled. Zackery, a cornerbackfor Evangel during the school's 11-1 season in 2001, was trackeddown about three blocks away.

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