The Associated Press

RAVENNA – Federal marshals Thursday night arrested Art Schlichter, the former Indianapolis Colts and Ohio State quarterback whose gambling problems ended his NFL career, at a restaurant in this northeast Ohio town.

Friday, May 19, 2000

RAVENNA – Federal marshals Thursday night arrested Art Schlichter, the former Indianapolis Colts and Ohio State quarterback whose gambling problems ended his NFL career, at a restaurant in this northeast Ohio town.

Authorities had been searching for Schlichter, 40, since Monday when he was charged with money laundering in Indianapolis. Marshals found a vehicle believed to be driven by Schlichter at a farm in Windham, about 50 miles southeast of Cleveland, said Frank Anderson, U.S. Marshal for the Southern District of Indiana.

After raiding the farm, marshals drove to nearby Ravenna where they arrested Schlichter without incident, Anderson said in a news release.

U.S. Deputy Marshal Steven Prosser said that Schlichter was not armed when he was arrested at East Park restaurant about 6:30 p.m.

Schlichter was talking on a pay telephone when the marshals arrived, said Mark Robinett, a deputy U.S. marshal. ”Well, it looks like I have to go. The U.S. marshals are here for me,” Robinett quoted Schlichter as saying.

While Schlichter was on the phone, ”he asked how many police were at the house and not to tell where he was at,” restaurant manager Ethel Hahn told Columbus television station WTTE. ”But it was too late because there were six U.S. marshals surrounding him.”

Prosser said the raid occurred sooner than expected.

”There was some concern that our surveillance was compromised. And we had received a call that alerted us to that possibility,” he said. ”We wanted to end it as quickly and as peacefully as possible.”

Authorities intensified their search for Schlichter after learning he tried to obtain a handgun from a friend.

Marshals reacted ”with as much urgency as we did because of the fear that some police officer might have been confronted with him and someone could have been hurt,” Prosser said.

Schlichter was transported to the Summit County jail in Akron where he will remain pending his extradition to Indiana within 10 days, Prosser said.

Schlichter was staying with a childhood friend on the farm. The farm’s owner did not know he was there, Prosser said. He said no one else was expected to be arrested.

Prosecutors in Indianapolis said Schlichter accepted advance payments for tickets to sporting events he could not obtain, then tried to repay the money by making unauthorized charges on his father’s credit cards.

Schlichter also is wanted in the Columbus suburb of Grove City on a felony charge of using someone else’s credit card to try to obtain cash.

Earlier this month, Schlichter was accused of driving a car at a motorcycle police officer after a routine traffic stop in Columbus. He was free on bond while facing charges of illegal gambling while in an Indiana prison.

Schlichter also is accused of violating his probation by not making daily visits to Hoch Correctional Consultants and Services in Indianapolis since April 28.

If convicted on the federal charges, Schlichter faces up to 20 years in prison. He faces five years on the Ohio felony charge.

Reached Thursday night at his Columbus-area home, Schlichter’s father, Max, said he knew his son had been arrested but that they haven’t spoken. He declined further comment.

Schlichter, a first-round draft pick by the then-Baltimore Colts in 1982, was suspended by the NFL in 1983 when it was learned that bookies threatened him over $150,000 in gambling debts.

In 1984, Schlichter returned to the Colts, who by then had relocated to Indianapolis. He was released following the 1985 season.

Schlichter was freed from an Indiana prison last September after serving less than half of a four-year sentence on charges of theft, forgery and fraud in connection with the theft of $800,000 to support his gambling habit.

Since his release, he has been charged with using an Indiana prison’s pay phones to bet on football and hockey games.

Before beginning his Indiana prison term, Schlichter served a federal sentence in Kentucky for a probation violation. He surrendered to Indiana authorities on Jan. 26, 1998.