Schlichter Back To Prison?
Former NFL quarterback Art Schlichter's gambling addiction could send him back to prison.
Released last week after serving less than half of a four-year sentence, Schlichter pleaded innocent Tuesday to new charges that he used prison pay phones to bet on football and hockey games through a Las Vegas bookmaker last November.
Schlichter was incarcerated at the time at the Correctional Industrial Facility in Pendleton. He was transferred to another state prison in Plainfield after prosecutor Rodney Cummings issued warrants on four misdemeanor counts of illegal gambling.
"There was an additional count of check deception from an incident in 1995 that had been pending," Cummings said Tuesday after the initial hearing in Anderson City Court. "I suspect it was because he was incarcerated, so there are five counts, not just the four for unlawful gambling."
A trial date of Nov. 17 was set.
Schlichter admitted to an Indiana State police investigator that he "had a relapse and needed help," according to a report published Aug. 26 in the Herald Bulletin of Anderson.
Schlichter, who won early release by earning two college degrees behind bars through Ball State University, avoided transfer to the Madison County Jail by posting $5,000 bond, Cummings said.
The charge of check deception carries a maximum sentence of one year. Each of the four gambling charges could add 180 days. If convicted, Schlichter could be ordered to serve consecutive sentences.
In 1997, Schlichter was sentenced to four years in prison on charges of theft, forgery and fraud in connection with the theft of $800,000 to support his gambling habit. Before beginning his Indiana prison term, Schlichter served a federal sentence in Kentucky for a probation violation. He surrendered to Indiana authorities Jan. 26, 1998.
Schlichter, a first-round draft pick out of Ohio State by the then-Baltimore Colts in 1981, was suspended by the NFL in 1983 when it was learned that bookies had threatened him over $150,000 in gambling debts. Schlichter returned in 1984 to the Colts, who by then had relocated to Indianapolis, and was released following the 1985 season.
©1999 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed