Former Ohio State quarterback in court on latest drug charge
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – A former Ohio State quarterback indicted on felony drug charges after being found with crack pipes in his pants pocket has yet to officially enter a plea.
Defense counsel for Art Schlichter, who played for the Buckeyes between 1978-81, is facing a drug possession charge, a fifth-degree felony, and was in Franklin County Court of Common Pleas Tuesday morning.
Schlichter and his attorney were granted a seventh continuance in the case against him, which alleges that he gave an Ohio State Highway Patrol trooper two crack pipes during a traffic stop in North Linden on Feb. 2. After a probable cause search of his vehicle, small white rocks were found and Schlichter reportedly told the trooper they were 'crack rocks.'
Ohio one of the worst states for lung health in America, according to recent analysis
Body camera footage released last February by the OSHP showed over six minutes of the encounter.
At the time of his arrest, Schlichter was serving one year of probation for another fifth-degree felony drug charge from a June 2022 incident. That charge came when he was found unresponsive and had to be revived with Narcan at a hotel outside of Columbus. Online court records showed that if Schlichter violated his probation, he would be subject to 11 months in prison.
A status conference was scheduled for July 28, and he could face a trial if he does not plead guilty by August 25. His attorney, Sean Thivener, said Schlichter, in the midst of reported health issues, will review his options.
'I want the court to know that (Schlichter) would like to discuss this a little bit further with his family. But today we are not ready to enter any plea,' Thivener said.
Schlichter, who was most recently indicted in August 2024, previously spent 10 years in prison for gambling related crimes and later served time in federal prison from a ticket scam in which he stole millions of dollars from victims. He was released from Trumbull Correctional Institution in Levittsburg, Ohio in 2021.
Upon release from prison in 2006, Schlichter wrote a book about his addiction, 'Busted,' and became an anti-gambling crusader. But as he railed against casinos during church appearances, he continued to rack up new gambling debts.
Schlichter became the program's all-time leader in offense during his tenure as a Buckeye. After college, Schlichter was drafted fourth overall by the Baltimore Colts in the 1982 NFL draft. He threw three touchdown passes in the NFL before moving over to arena football.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Here's the top priority for Cincinnati's new police task force, according to Chief Theetge
Proactive, targeted policing of crime hot spots across Cincinnati will be the priority of the police department's new "roving task force," Police Chief Teresa Theetge said in an interview with The Enquirer. A dedicated task force of 30 officers, equipped with the department's newest crime-fighting tools including remotely-piloted drones, will use data to address what Mayor Aftab Pureval described recently as an "unacceptable rise in crime" across the city, particularly in urban core neighborhoods. The majority of the department's roughly 950 officers are on uniformed patrol, responding to "calls for service" across Cincinnati based on 911 calls and other day-to-day occurrences. Given the perennial issue of being short police officers, Theetge said uniformed patrol can't keep up with groups of people committing crimes. That's where the task force comes in. Theetge said the task force, operating through at least October, will be proactive, focused on preventing crimes before they occur, rather than solely reactive. Officers will be covert and respond in numbers to address criminal activity. "There's definitely demand for it," Theetge said. "People in our city shouldn't have to worry about coming downtown to have dinner and come back to their car to find out it got broken into." There has been increased attention on crime in the city since the killing of Patrick Heringer during a burglary of his Over-the-Rhine home June 4 and a spate of killings citywide that have followed. The task force is a direct response to calls for additional police presence and resources in areas such as Downtown and Over-the-Rhine, where there have been nearly double the number of burglaries, breaking-and-entering incidents and thefts from cars so far this year. Theetge said much of that crime is driven by youths, who she has said roam around neighborhoods, breaking into cars and looking for guns. While violent crime is a focus for the task force, which has the majority of its officers from the city's violent crime squads, Theetge has said property crimes such as car break-ins are a priority. It's not the first time Cincinnati police, or other departments across the country, have established a task force to respond to an uptick in crime. Cincinnati police operated what was called the "Vortex unit" for several years in the '90s and 2000s. That unit conducted sweeps through high-crime areas such as Over-the-Rhine before criticism over its "zero-tolerance policing" strategy led to its disbandment. More: 'Unacceptable rise in crime' across downtown neighborhoods prompts city leaders to respond Theetge said the roving task force is not the return of the Vortex unit but acknowledged the two share some similarities. "Vortex did more drug investigations. They were a bit similar in that they addressed hot spots," Theetge said. "This is more focused on the data driving us where to be and why. We did not have that capability to the degree that we do now." Following the data, Theetge plans to measure the task force's success based on reversing the recent uptick in crime. Heringer's widow, Sarah Heringer, has made public calls for proactive policing in her neighborhood of Over-the-Rhine off East McMicken Avenue. Theetge has indicated those calls are being answered. North of Liberty Street, and for years surrounding a Shell gas station in between Vine and Walnut streets, has been a hot spot for criminal activity. Now, that stretch of the neighborhood will be one of the focus areas for the new task force, Theetge said. As an example of one landmark in the area, 10 years ago, Cincinnati police were stopping at the Shell an average of 2.5 times per day. While that average has improved, officers still make an average of two visits every day to the gas station, according to an Enquirer review of calls for service. Earlier in June, two people were shot, one fatally, on Walnut Street near the Shell station. The other man who was shot told The Enquirer – on the condition of anonymity because he fears retaliation – he is a rideshare driver who was struck as he was driving by. A bullet came through his windshield and hit him in the shoulder, he said. Theetge's 30-plus-year career with the Cincinnati police has followed Over-the-Rhine's continued redevelopment up toward and beyond Liberty Street. As it continues, Theetge says the roving task force will continue to address pockets of crime and said police are an integral part of pushing that development forward. "It's a slow process. It's slow progress. But it's absolutely doable," Theetge said. "Whatever the police can do to facilitate that development, we're committed to doing that." This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati's new police task force laser-focused on 'pockets of crime'
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Yahoo
Nutley's sentence for having sex with a student wasn't justice. It was a joke
When I saw Emily Nutley's smiling prison intake photo, my heart pounded with a familiar fury. Nutley, a former St. Xavier High School employee convicted of sexually abusing a 17-year-old student, received a three-year sentence. She'll likely serve less than half that time. According to the Enquirer, not only did she groom this child to gain his trust, she messaged him constantly and sent explicit photos, documenting her obsession with him. At least four encounters of child sexual abuse by Nutley were reported. When he tried to escape the abuse, she blackmailed him and even threatened suicide. The abuse was coercive and calculated. More: Documents: Former St. Xavier employee who had sex with student 'groomed other children' And what sentence did she get? Three years. What did the victim get? A life sentence. He will carry the physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual damage for years to come. The utter cowardice and abject failure of Hamilton County Judge Jennifer Branch and the prosecutor's office are indeed sad, but unsurprising. I should know. My abuser, a teacher in the Oak Hills School District, sexually abused me for nearly four years. He received 30 days in jail and wasn't required to register as a sex offender. He walked free while I lived in terror, traumatized for decades. His sentence, like Nutley's, wasn't justice. It was a joke. Read my survivor testimony for Ohio HB 322, which finally criminalized grooming, to understand Cincinnati's many and repeated systemic failures. Until law enforcement, the courts and the press start treating child sexual abuse for what it is − violence against children − victims will keep paying the price. Melissa Childs, Santa Monica, Calif., Oak Hills High School, 1997 This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: St. Xavier employee's sentence for sex with student is a joke | Letter
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Yahoo
Darke County man accused of murdering his grandmother by setting her on fire
Jun. 27—A Darke County man has been accused of setting his grandmother on fire and killing her in December 2024. Jamin Wesley Brenner, 36, was indicted on two charges each of aggravated murder and aggravated arson, according to a release from Darke County Sheriff's Office Detective Rachael Prickett. The charges stem from the Dec. 12, 2024 death of Beverly Lees, 86, at a residence on Little John Drive in the Sherwood Forest Trailer Community in Neave Twp. At around 2:45 p.m., fire crews were called to the home and reported seeing heavy smoke coming from the mobile home. Lees was found inside and pronounced dead at the scene. Investigators from the Ohio State Fire Marshal's Office determined that Lees had been set on fire intentionally, leading to her death, Prickett said. The fire then spread to the residence. Following a six-month investigation between sheriff's office detectives, the fire marshal's office and the Darke County Coroner's Office, Brenner was located in Dayton and arrested Friday with the assistance of the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office. Brenner is currently in the Darke County Jail awaiting arraignment.
