CHAPEL HILL – Jennifer Wiley, the former UNC tutor connected to the 2010 football program scandal, has been charged with violating a state law concerning sports agent- student athlete interaction.

Jennifer Lauren Thompson, known as Jennifer Wiley before her marriage, is charged with agent-athlete inducement on four low-level felony counts.

Wiley speaking with her attorney

Wiley speaking with her attorney

Thompson made a brief appearance in Orange County District Court on Thursday afternoon, and one of her lawyers, Elliot Sol Abrams, said this following the hearing:

“We would just remind everyone that an indictment is not evidence of guilt.”

Judge Lunsford Long presided over the hearing before an Orange County grand jury on Tuesday and immediately sealed the indictment documents.

“Mr. Cheshire [Wiley’s other lawyer] and I are not at all convinced that she has committed a crime,” Abrams said. “We look forward to reviewing the State’s case and meeting with Mr. Woodall to discuss these matters.”

Five people in total were indicted this week on charges related to the North Carolina Uniform Athletes Agents Act. District Attorney Jim Woodall hasn’t released the names of the other four.

Woodall said Thursday that no one ever has ever been charged under the Athlete Agent Act.

“What we all need to recognize is that this is new territory for everyone involved,” Abrams said. “No one has ever been charged with this crime. So, I think that this is something that the District Attorney’s office has continued to look into, and we have to continue to look into.”

Wiley’s indictment said that investigators found that she allegedly provided a round-trip airline ticket and delivered packages containing $2,000 and $150 cash for then UNC football player Greg Little in May 2010.

Investigators believe she did so in order to get Little to contact Terry Watson of the Georgia-based Watson Sports Agency.

Thompson was a tutor at UNC and was also found to have inappropriately helped a player, Michael McAdoo, with a paper in the African and Afro-American Studies Department.

North Carolina Secretary of State Elaine Marshall conducted the investigation that found Thompson had “extensive contact between Wiley and UNC-CH student athletes” and “direct contact between Wiley’s (phone) number and (sports agent) Peter Schaffer.”

“This has been a long and sad road for Jennifer,” Abrams said. “She is a wonderful person. She is a caring person. She’ll continue to act with decency, and she will maintain her dignity throughout this process.”

Wiley was placed under a $15,000 secured bond and is due in court again Oct. 15.