Ex-UTEP Football Player Sentenced In Dallas Public Corruption Case

A member of UTEP’s 1988 Independence Bowl football team has been sentenced to prison in a massive public corruption case involving Dallas City Hall.

Jibreel Rashad was sentenced Tuesday to almost five years in prison for conspiracy to commit extortion, according to a report in the Dallas Morning News. Rashad, 43, is already serving prison time for mortgage fraud.

U.S. District Judge Barbara Lynn ruled that 12 months of his new 57-month sentence can be served concurrently with the more than 11-year term he is already serving.

Rashad was known as Vernon Cooks while he attended UTEP before he changed his name for religious reasons. He was a cornerback on UTEP’s winningest team ever, which made it to the Independence Bowl at the end of the 1988 season.

Another member of UTEP’s Independence Bowl team, running back John Harvey, is serving prison time on unrelated charges. Harvey was sentenced to 12 years in prison in Sept. 2008 for raping a 12-year-old girl in upstate New York.

Read the full Dallas Morning News article here.

Read about the 1988 UTEP football team here.