Former Ohio State quarterback could face indictment on drug charge

Orri Benatar
·2 min read
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — A former Ohio State quarterback returned to court more than one week after a trooper found crack pipes in his pocket.

63-year-old Art Schlichter, who played for the Buckeyes from 1978 to ’81, appeared in Franklin County Municipal Court on Monday and received new drug related charges. During the arraignment hearing, the case was dismissed, but Schlichter could be indicted by a grand jury at a later date.

Schlitcher, who was on probation, is facing a felony drug possession charge with his case now going to the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas.

He was stopped by an Ohio State Highway Patrol trooper on Feb. 2 at about 4:20 a.m. near East Hudson Street and Hamilton Avenue in Columbus’ Linden neighborhood. Body camera footage showed that Schlichter repeatedly asked the trooper if he knew who he was.

Florida pilots killed in plane crash from Ohio State airport, two Columbus residents survive

OSHP trooper Brian Garloch went to perform a search of Schlichter, which he didn’t object to, and pulled two used crack pipes from a back pocket. Garloch said he had also noticed what he called drug paraphernalia on the floorboard of the car.

Schlichter was sentenced in 2023 to one year of probation after pleading guilty to a fifth-degree felony drug charge stemming from an incident in June 2022, when he was found unresponsive and had to be revived with Narcan at a hotel outside of Columbus.

After his time with the Buckeyes, he was drafted No. 1 overall to the Baltimore Colts in the 1982 NFL Draft. After a short lived professional football career, Schlichter spent 10 years in prison in Indiana for gambling-related crimes and was released in 2006.

In 2011, he was released from the Trumbull Correctional Institution in Leavittsburg, Ohio, serving time for federal fraud charges related to a ticket scheme in which he swindled millions of dollars from his victims.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to NBC4 WCMH-TV.