Former Ohio State quarterback indicted on felony drug charges

COLUMBUS, Ohio ( WCMH ) — A former Ohio State quarterback has been indicted on felony drug charges after he was found with crack pipes in his jeans pocket in February.

Art Schlichter, 64, who played for the Buckeyes from 1978-81, was charged with possession of drugs, a fifth-degree felony, in the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas on Friday. This comes after a Feb. 2 incident in North Linden involving an Ohio State Highway Patrol deputy.

At around 4:22 a.m. that day, the former Buckeye was pulled over by a highway patrol trooper who reported seeing drug paraphernalia in his car. The trooper reported Schlichter gave him two crack pipes out of his pocket. After a probable cause search was conducted, small white rocks were found, which he reportedly told the trooper were “crack rocks.”

Body camera footage released by the Ohio State Highway Patrol in February 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 naloxone 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.

The recent drug-related crimes aren’t the only legal troubles the ex-quarterback has faced over the years. Schlichter was released from Trumbull Correctional Institution in Levittsburg, Ohio, in 2021, having served time for 2011 federal fraud charges from a ticket scheme in which he scammed victims out of millions of dollars. Before that, he had spent 10 years in prison for gambling-related crimes.

An arraignment hearing for Schlichter is scheduled for Sept. 3.

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