INDIANAPOLIS — Former Colts quarterback Art Schlichter used to be discovered unresponsive at an Ohio Hampton Inn in June — not up to a 12 months after he used to be launched from jail for federal fraud fees associated with a large price tag scheme that bilked tens of millions of bucks from his sufferers.
Inside Schlichter’s resort room, officials discovered a substance they believed to be cocaine.
According to court docket paperwork, police answered to a file of an overdose on the Hampton Inn on Lyman Drive in Hilliard, Ohio. Officers may now not get Schlichter, 62, to reply.
He used to be resuscitated with the assist of Narcan, a nasal spray used for the remedy of a identified or suspected opioid overdose that incorporates indicators of respiring issues. Schlichter used to be then taken to the health facility.
A check of the substance present in Schlichter’s resort room got here again as cocaine, court docket paperwork stated. Schlichter used to be charged with possession of cocaine, a fifth-degree legal.
Schlichter, a former Ohio State big name quarterback, used to be picked fourth total within the NFL draft through the Baltimore Colts in 1982.
He will seem Friday in Franklin County Municipal Court.
A reputedly new starting
After a run of jail sentences that spanned twenty years — attributable to a playing dependancy that resulted in monetary fraud, robbery and shattered an NFL dream — Schlichter used to be launched from jail in June 2021.
Court data confirmed Schlichter become eligible for parole June 13, 2021, and used to be launched from the Trumbull Correctional Institution in Leavittsburg, Ohio, the following day.
According to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation & Correction, Schlichter used to be indexed as being beneath “APA Supervision” for the following 5 years. That supposed Schlichter can be supervised through the Adult Parole Authority in Ohio, chargeable for grownup legal offenders returning to the neighborhood.
As section of his parole, Schlichter used to be required to signal a freelance agreeing to a host of regulations, together with to not personal weapons, use unlawful medication or go away the state with out notifying his parole officer.
“My advice to anyone coming upon Mr. Schlichter is that they not engage in any business transactions or any purchases or any other transactions that would involve giving him any money,” Ron O’Brien, former Franklin (Ohio) County prosecutor who fought to stay Schlichter in jail, advised IndyStar in 2021.
“(He) is a career criminal engaged in fraud as a career,” O’Brien stated. “He just cannot help himself. He will do this the rest of his life.”
IndyStar reached out to Schlichter’s lawyer Stephen Palmer, who didn’t straight away reply Wednesday evening.
‘He is previous the purpose of rehabilitation’
Schlichter pleaded in charge to a large price tag scheme that bilked tens of millions of bucks from his sufferers in September 2011. In that scheme, he promised faculty and NFL recreation tickets to patrons, however by no means delivered the tickets regardless of being paid for them. He used to be sentenced and launched on bond.
Four months later, in January 2012, Schlichter’s bond used to be revoked because of drug use. According to court docket data, Schlichter used to be charged with violating the phrases of his space arrest, trying out certain for cocaine two times after which refusing to present urine samples. He used to be taken into custody.
In May 2012, Schlichter used to be sentenced to just about 11 years within the Federal Correctional Institute in Florence, Colorado, and 10 years in an Ohio reformatory. The two sentences had been to be served at the same time as, and with excellent habits Schlichter used to be to be launched Aug. 18, 2020.
But from throughout the partitions of jail, simply months ahead of his scheduled free up, Schlichter used to be having girls out of doors the jail position bets for him, O’Brien advised IndyStar.
‘It’s unhappy and it is tragic’:Ex-Colts QB Art Schlichter’s existence in the back of bars
He used to be additionally making a bet with different inmates, O’Brien stated. Prison officers discovered via e-mails and contact calls Schlichter used to be playing from within. He used to be banned from e mail for 90 days because of his playing, consistent with jail data.
In 2020, IndyStar spoke completely with Schlichter from in the back of bars. He stated he sought after to inform his tale of how he have been handled unfairly through the courts and prosecutors.
When Schlichter used to be launched in 2021, O’Brien stated, “he is past the point of rehabilitation.”
Follow IndyStar sports activities reporter Dana Benbow on Twitter: @DanaBenbow. Reach her by the use of e mail: dbenbow@indystar.com.