Bert Neff has been sentenced to prison for his role in a gambling scandal that led to the firing of the former head coach of Alabama’s baseball program, Brad Bohannon.
According to court documents obtained from the U.S. District for the Northern District of Alabama, Neff has been sentenced to eight months in prison and three years of supervised release after pleading guilty in February to one count of obstruction of justice. The Indiana native was handed the sentence after betting at Great American Ballpark.
Last April, Neff attempted to place a $100,000 wager at BetMGM’s retail sportsbook in Cincinnati after being provided with insider information about the Alabama baseball team from Bohannon. Neff attempted to place the wager on Alabama’s opponent, LSU, but was limited to $15,000 by BetMGM staff who flagged the bet as suspicious. According to court documents, Bohannon told Neff to bet against Alabama.
As a result, Alabama fired Bohannon but he has yet to be charged in the case. Alabama was handed a three-year probation term by the NCAA and a $5,000 fine for Bohannon’s actions. He is also banned from anything related to NCAA athletics for 15 years and has been also placed on Ohio’s involuntary self-exclusion list of prohibited bettors with Neff.
Bert Neff attempts to clean up
The former baseball player was charged with obstruction of justice after attempting to destroy evidence that tied him to his role in the scheme. According to court filings, Neff destroyed his cellphone after communicating with Bohannon about the $100,000 wager and also encouraged witnesses not to speak with authorities about the scheme.
“(Neff) demonstrated an uncommon persistence in his effort to obstruct justice,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Edward Canter in a sentencing memorandum. “Not only did he destroy his phone at the outset of the investigation. He doubled down on obstruction at every opportunity, compounding the seriousness of the offense.”
Neff must turn himself in to authorities to begin his sentence by Oct. 29. His gambling also impacted the Cincinnati baseball program, where his son was a student-athlete.
Neff’s actions led to a Cincinnati assistant coach and a director of operations for baseball being fired for not reporting his betting activities back to the school. Former Cincinnati head baseball coach Scott Googins would eventually resign from his role amid the fallout.