A professional player from Stade Rennais was convicted of stealing phones in the street while threatening someone with a knife.

According to the local news outlet Rennes Infos Autrement, a young professional player for Stade Rennais has just been sentenced in a disturbing case involving phone theft with threats and violence. He received a suspended prison sentence with two years of probation.

It's hard to imagine a professional footballer going out and mugging people in the street with his friends. Yet that's exactly what happened last Saturday night in Ille-et-Vilaine. According to the local news outlet Rennes Infos Autrement, a young player from Stade Rennais committed several phone thefts, threatening people with a knife and sometimes resorting to violence, in the company of two friends: a student who plays basketball at a high level and a minor. The incidents took place between 2:00 and 4:00 a.m. near downtown Rennes.

Four victims reported their attackers, and the two adults were tried on Monday in an expedited hearing at the Rennes criminal court (the minor will be tried at a later date). "A trio of idiots," lamented the lawyer for one of the defendants. Given that they had no prior criminal record, it's difficult to understand what drove these young athletes to such acts. The student-basketball player, who works temporary jobs, explained that he owed money to family members.

"I didn't really know what we were going to do."

The Stade Rennais footballer, whose identity has not been revealed, claimed he didn't really know how he got involved in this sordid affair: "When they came to get me, I didn't really know what we were going to do. After the first theft, I felt very sorry for the victim. We should have given him back his phone and stopped everything at that point. We all had that thought, but we carried on."

Their arguments did not appear to convince the deputy prosecutor, who pointed out that they had acted "masked and organized," seemingly having planned their attack. The young professional player from Stade Rennais was sentenced to eighteen months in prison, with a two-year suspended sentence. The student received an eighteen-month prison sentence, with fourteen months suspended and a two-year probation period. Both assailants will also have to compensate their victims, present a study or work plan, and perform 70 hours of community service.