Former San Francisco 49ers Pro Bowl linebacker Lee Woodall was charged with theft today for using $400,000 in minority-business loans to purchase plane tickets, hotel rooms, cars, and home furnishings for himself, not to finance the fitness center he said he would build.
“These loans from the Pennsylvania Minority Business Development Authority, like the one Lee Woodall obtained, are intended to facilitate economic development and growth in Pennsylvania communities,” Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett said in a statement. “Instead, Woodall allegedly stole the money and used it for his own personal expenses.”
Woodall obtained the $400,000 loan in May of 2005, and the terms of the loan required him to buy fitness equipment for the gym he would open. But 11 months later, almost all of the money had been spent and no gym had opened.
Woodall is charged with one count of theft by failure to make required disposition of funds received, a third-degree felony.
Woodall played for the 49ers from 1994 to 1999, for the Panthers in 2000 and for the Broncos in 2001. He was selected to the Pro Bowl after the 1995 and 1997 seasons.