DETROIT — Two former University of Toledo basketball players were sentenced on Tuesday in U.S. District Court for their roles in a point-shaving and betting scandal that began more than a decade ago.

Sammy Villegas and Anton Currie were the first of nine people to be sentenced in the federal investigation into UT athletes being paid by gamblers to control football and basketball contests.

Villegas, who was the first defendant to cooperate with investigators, and Currie were given probation for participating in the scheme.

Judge Mark Goldsmith placed Villegas on probation for three years. He also was ordered to pay a $5,000 fine and perform 100 hours of community service. He pleaded guilty on June 30, 2008, to a single count of conspiracy to influence sporting contests by bribery.

Currie, who prosecutors said had a lesser role in the point-shaving operation, was sentenced to two years probation, 50 hours community service, and a $1,000 fine.

Villegas, 32, admitted to authorities he had been persuaded by a teammate to shave points in a betting operation to benefit Detroit businessman Ghazi “Gary” Manni and his gambling partner Mitchell Karam. He also recruited teammates to join in the conspiracy.

Manni, 57, the co-owner of King Cole Foods in Detroit, admitted to paying seven UT athletes to influence games between 2004-2006, especially in basketball, according to court records.

He pleaded guilty in December to paying players to fix UT basketball and football games. He also pleaded guilty to paying bribes to fix horse races and to food stamp fraud.

Five former UT athletes, all of whom have entered pleas, will be sentenced later.

Ex-basketball players Keith Triplett and Kashif Lashon Payne, will learn their sentences on March 31 and April 7, respectively.

Adam Cuomo, a former running back, has a sentence hearing set for March 31. Harvey “Scooter” McDougle, Jr., and Quinton Broussard, who also were running backs, are both due back in court on March 31.

Manni, who urged the athletes to participate in return for money, food, and other items, and Karam are to be sentenced on May 26 by Judge Goldsmith.

Villegas admitted to shaving points while he was a UT player during games in the 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 seasons.

The payoffs to the basketball and football players for their cooperation included dinners at casinos, money, groceries, and other items of value.

According to court filings, Cuomo began offering inside information to Manni in 2003 to help him place bets on UT football games, and later introduced the gambler to other UT athletes with the intent that he could recruit them to join the conspiracy.

Manni said he met Villegas and Broussard through Triplett, and Villegas later introduced Manni to Payne.

In his plea agreement, Manni said Cuomo introduced him to former Rockets quarterback Bruce Gradkowski and claimed he gave money on several occasions to the NFL player.

In a 2007 interview with The Blade, Mr. Gradkowski, then a quarterback with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, said he knew Manni, but he was not involved and had no knowledge of any point-shaving scheme.

At his sentencing Tuesday, Villegas made an apology to the University of Toledo for his actions in the point-shaving scheme.

Sentencing guidelines for the crime suggested a prison sentence of 24 to 30 months, but Judge Goldsmith went along with the prosecutor’s recommendation to downgrade the punishment to probation because of his cooperation in helping investigators and providing testimony.

Villegas’ attorney, John Belanger, asked the judge to take into account that his client had taken responsibility for his actions and testified before a federal grand jury.

“I think, under the circumstances, probation is appropriate,” Mr. Belanger said.

Lynn Helland, chief of the special prosecution unit for the U.S. attorney’s office, said Villegas’ actions were corrosive to UT athletic programs, but at the time of the offenses he was young and immature and he cooperated with FBI agents when he was approached in the early stages of the investigation.

“The driving force here was not Sammy Villegas, It was Ghazi Manni,” Mr. Helland said.

Villegas declined to talk about the case after the sentencing.

“He wants to put it behind,” Mr. Belanger said outside the courtroom. “He is not a bad guy. He did something stupid.”

Villegas, who lives in Puerto Rico, will be allowed to serve his probation in the U.S. territory, where he is a professional basketball player. He told the court that he has a 6-month-old daughter and lives with the child’s mother.

Currie said he met Manni through Triplett, his teammate on the 2004-2005 basketball team, and he was paid $1,000 and $2,000 in cash and groceries in exchange for fixing games.

According to Mr. Helland, Currie was recruited to participate in the point-shaving scheme but was not as involved in the conspiracy as Villegas.

Currie, 30, of Hope Mills, N.C., said in court that he takes full responsibility for what he did to fix games while playing basketball at UT.

“It has been a long road. I understand I made mistakes. I have owed up to my mistakes,” he said.

Contact Mark Reiter at: markreiter@theblade.com or 419-724-6199.

First Published March 25, 2015, 4:00 a.m.