A Sacramento Superior Court jury today convicted a former National Football League defensive lineman on 19 counts stemming from three home invasion robberies in the North Natomas area in the summer of 2011 in which he also sexually assaulted a female victim.
Keith Wright, 32, will be sentenced on Nov. 16 by Judge Michael A. Savage as a result of his convictions today on four counts of forced oral copulaton, three counts of burglary, four of robbery, five of kidnap and three of false imprisonment
A University of Missouri player who earlier competed at Sacramento City College, Wright, who originally was from Santa Clara, was taken on the sixth round of the 2003 NFL draft and signed to a three-year, $925,000 deal with the Houston Texans, according to published reports. He was later signed as a free agent to the practice squads of the Indianapolis Colts, the Detroit Lions, the Arizona Cardinals and the Detroit Lions.
Prosecutors charged him with late-night break-ins at three separate homes in the North Natomas area, robbing his victims at gunpoint of cash and other valuables. In one instance he held a revolver to the head of a woman while he forced her to orally copulate him, jurors found. Then he forced her to drive him to an ATM machine where he unsuccessfully sought to withdraw $300 cash, according to court documents.
Two of his victims were Qatari nationals who said the robber stole currency from their native country. Sacramento police checked with a currency exchange and found out that a man matching Wright's description, accompanied by a woman, had traded in Qatari riyalis for dollars. The woman gave the exchange an address. Investigators set up a surveillance on her residence and arrested Wright Aug. 29, 2011.
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