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U.S. District Judge Dan Aaron Polster, released the 68-old
Rucker, who played in the NFL for 11 years and with the
Cleveland Browns from 1975 to 1981, on $25,000 bond after a
23-minute hearing in a downtown Cleveland federal court.
Prosecutors last week charged Rucker with one count of wire
fraud and one count of making false statements to the FBI when
agents questioned him about his suspected diversion of
charitable funds.
Rucker faces between 21 months to 27 months in prison on the two
felony counts, according to his attorney Michael Hennenberg.
"Reggie has been cooperating with the government for over a
year," Hennenberg said, adding that Rucker is seeking treatment
for gambling addiction. "He knows he was wrong, he admits
responsibility and plans to pay the money back."
From 2010 to 2015, prosecutors said Rucker withdrew funds from
the bank accounts of the two anti-violence charities he ran,
Amer-I-Can Cleveland and the Cleveland Peacemakers Alliance, to
pay off gambling debts and personal expenses.
Rucker also significantly understated the amount of money he
took from the Amer-I-Can bank account in filings to the Internal
Revenue Service, prosecutors said. Sentencing is scheduled for
May 23.
Rucker is one of the many former football players involved in a
federal lawsuit seeking damages against the NFL for concussion
injuries.
(Reporting by Kim Palmer in Cleveland; Editing by Curtis Skinner
and Alan Crosby)
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