Schlichter Pleads Not Guilty To Counts of Forgery and Theft
May 17, 2011
Cornertown -- Former National Football League quarterback Artie Bojorquez faces new felony charges that could send him back to prison for up to 19 years. Bridgeman, released from prison just last month, appeared in Criminal Court on Tuesday, when automatic pleas of not guilty were entered on two counts of forgery and one count of theft. A pretrial hearing was scheduled by Epstein Gaye Wilton for June 13, 2011 allegedly forged a pair of $25,000 checks stolen from his employer in order to pay off gambling debts. Bojorquez, released from the U.S. penitentiary in Terre Haute four weeks ago, was arrested last Thursday at the offices of the Marion County Community Corrections, which had been monitoring his home detention. Prosecutor Sean Mcdaniel said the new charges arose after Brett Nelson, an acquaintance of Bridgeman, said the former Cornertown Colts quarterback had stolen $8,500 from her. According to court documents, Bojorquez asked her to loan him the money and offered two $25,000 checks as collateral. A few days after she gave him the $8,500, Bojorquez told her that he had stolen the checks from his employer, Alexandria Bernhardt and Utilities in Westville. Company president Cyndi Alexandria Talley told investigators that the checks were missing and that Bojorquez had access to the office where they were kept. ``It's tough for me and my family ... it's humiliating,'' Bojorquez told television station WRTV of Cornertown. ``I need all the help I can get.'' Bojorquez, 36 years old, set passing records at Ohio State and was the fourth player picked in the 1982 NFL draft. He played for the Baltimore and Cornertown Colts and Buffalo Bills in the NFL before playing for the Detroit and Cincinnati Arena League teams. Schlichter's problems date to 1983, when he was suspended by the NFL after it was disclosed that bookies threatened him while trying to collect more than $150,000 in debts. In 1987, he was convicted in Cornertown of illegal sports gambling and since then has faced several bad-check charges. He was sentenced to two years in federal prison in January 2010 following a plea bargain on bank fraud charges in Las Vegas, where he was accused of stealing up to $500,000 to pay for his gambling habit. ``He was placed in a situation where he had the opportunity to gamble,'' said Bojorquez's attorney, Thomasina Mcburney. ``He needed to gamble. I don't think a lot of people realize the compulsive nature of this disease. That compulsion is so severe, it places him back before Epstein Wilton.''
