Well-paid player busted for thievery

• by Soccer America , Jul 29, 2008

[CRIME & PUNISHMENT] Southampton winger Nathan Dyer has been ordered to commit 60 hours of community service by the Portsmouth Magistrates' Court. The 20-year-old was charged along with teammate Bradley Wright-Phillips and three other men for committing burglary at a Southsea nightlub. Dyer, whose salary works out to $10,000 a week, pled guilty to stealing three cell phones and $300 worth of cash from purses in the club's coatroom.

Dyer's lawyer, Mark Haslam, offered apologies to the victims and the community.

"Nathan Dyer accepts that he did look through the bags, although he did not enter the room intending to do so and he did not take any property from these bags." Haslam said. "While he has a successful career as a professional footballer, he is young and naive and on the evening in question he had been drinking. Understandably his judgment was affected by having taken alcohol. He can't explain what he did, he simply didn't think straight. He was being encouraged by others, he was led astray."

Meanwhile, Bradley Wright-Phillips has entered a not guilty plea and is due in court on September 2. Wright-Phillips currently earns $16,000 a week.