DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum Reggie Rucker accused of paying gambling debts with non-profits' money, charged with wire fraud

'Reggie Rucker accused of paying gambling debts with non-profits' money, charged with wire fraud'

http://www.cleveland.com/cityhall/index.ssf/2016/02/reggie_rucker_accused_of_payin.html

By Leila Atassi, cleveland.com on February 16, 2016 at 11:24 AM, updated February 16, 2016 at 12:37 PM

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Former Cleveland Browns player and founder of the Cleveland Peacemakers Alliance Reggie Rucker was charged Tuesday in federal court with using hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations to his non-profit agencies to pay off gambling debts and his mortgage among other personal expenses.

Federal prosecutors say Rucker used the non-profits' bank accounts as his own -- writing himself checks for thousands of dollars, withdrawing cash at ATMs and at casinos across the country and often running the agencies into the red – sometimes while his outreach workers went months without a paycheck.

Rucker, 68, faces one count each of wire fraud and false statements to law enforcement. He was charged by way of a criminal information, which usually means a plea agreement is forthcoming.

In a news release Tuesday, Acting U.S. Attorney Carole Rendon chastised Rucker for misusing his celebrity to take advantage of the community's generosity.

"He stole from the very violence interrupters he so publicly claimed to support," Rendon wrote. "In one breath he begged generous donors to save Amer-I-Can and the Peacemakers Alliance, and in the next he stole that money to support his lifestyle and his gambling junkets in Cleveland, Florida, and Las Vegas, using the charity's account as his own ATM."

Cleveland.com publicly disclosed for the first time in July that Rucker was under federal investigation related to his handling of grant dollars. At the time, Rucker said he was cooperating with the investigation and suggested that someone had set him up.

Rucker, for years, has gone hat-in-hand to charitable foundations and private donors, asking for money to support the work of his agencies, Amer-I-Can Cleveland and the Peacemakers, which employed outreach workers to mentor at-risk youth or quell violence in inner-city neighborhoods. The agencies have been funded primarily by the Cleveland Foundation, with requirements that Rucker find other donors to match the foundation's support.

According to the criminal information, Rucker used his status as a former football player to solicit donations and represented himself as an experienced manager of non-profit organizations, responsible for raising millions of dollars for various agencies. He routinely told donors that Ameri-I-Can, which shared a bank account with the Peacemakers, had an independent board of directors that provided oversight and set employees' salaries, including his own. That, prosecutors say, was false.

Rucker, prosecutors say, even went so far as to tell donors that he didn't receive a salary through Amer-I-Can, when all along, he was commingling the agency's funds with his own. In total, Rucker withdrew more than $500,000 from the Amer-I-Can account between 2011 and February 2015, when federal investigators interviewed him, the charging document states. That included $38,000 withdrawn from casino ATMs and tens of thousands of dollars he used to pay off gambling debts.

In perhaps the most egregious accusation described in the federal information, Rucker ran up a $20,000 debt at a Las Vegas casino in 2013, then applied for "bridge funding" from the an organization identified in the document as "Foundation 1" to meet payroll needs for the Peacemakers' 16 outreach workers and three case managers.

Context clues suggest that Foundation 1 is likely the Cleveland Foundation.

When the foundation emailed Rucker announcing that it would provide $150,000, prosecutors say, Rucker forwarded the email to his contact at the casino, as proof that he was good for the money.

"This is my non profit [sic] and they were a little behind getting me my money," he wrote. "I will not actually have this in my hands for 10 days, maybe 14 . . . I like to keep communication open so that I don't get into any trouble. Can they work with me on this?"

Rucker later updated the casino on the status of the payment, stating that the foundation would release the funds shortly.

"As you can see from this correspondence, [Foundation 1] threw me a curve!," he wrote. "I won't have this money in my hands until March 2 or 3rd . . . These things sometimes get delayed like this because of the amount of money, which this is only a portion of the final award in April."

On March 12, 2013, after months of diverting Amer-I-Can funds to his own account, Rucker wrote a check to the Vegas casino for $20,000, prosecutors say.

Meanwhile, emails between Rucker and the foundation indicated that Peacemakers outreach workers hadn't been paid since December.

Rucker paid off two other gambling debts in similar fashion, prosecutors say.

Stay tuned to cleveland.com for more on this breaking story.

damn he pulled a marco rubio but got caught. well, that's what happens when you try to play the system. you get got.

Ut-oh! Reggie's in trouble.

Sooner or later, Swish!

Damn, I used to love watching him do that touch down celebration where he would just flop back into the end zone!

"Fundraise Like a Brown"

Hope it isn't true, but it doesn't sound good.

**sigh**

Gambling. Damn.

Brown or no Brown, lock his behind up!

Always thought that Rucker was a pretty straight up living dude.. Never would have thought he'd be involved in something like this. Just goes to show, you never know.

Sad

If this story is legit, which all signs are pointing to - what a scum move and I hope he suffers heavy, and I mean the full extent of the applicable law, for this.

Rucker was hilarious as an announcer. He was absolutely awful and couldn't hide his homerism.

One less friend on my friends list now I hope he gets the help he needs.

He pleaded guilty. On my phone so not going to post a link. Cleveland.com has it on their home page.

Here ya go:

'Reggie Rucker pleads guilty to stealing from non-profits, will likely spend time in prison'

http://www.cleveland.com/court-justice/index.ssf/2016/02/reggie_rucker_pleads_guilty_to.html

By Eric Heisig, cleveland.com on February 24, 2016 at 2:36 PM, updated February 24, 2016 at 3:20 PM

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Former Cleveland Browns player Reggie Rucker pleaded guilty Wednesday to embezzling money from the Cleveland Peacemakers Alliance, striking a deal with federal prosecutors that will likely send him to prison.

Rucker, under an agreement with the U.S. Attorney's Office, has agreed to ask for a prison sentence of between 21 and 27 months. He was charged earlier this month with wire fraud and making false statements to the FBI.

U.S. District Judge Dan Polster will sentence him May 23. Rucker is free from jail on bond while he awaits sentencing.

The case cements a fall from grace for Rucker, a beloved football player who made a name for himself by heading organizations that encouraged non-violent responses by Cleveland residents as the city seeks to reform how police use force.

Federal prosecutors say Rucker, 68, used the bank accounts of his non-profit agencies as his own. He wrote himself himself checks for thousands of dollars, withdrawing cash at ATMs and at casinos across the country and often running the agencies into the red – sometimes while his outreach workers went months without a paycheck.

Rucker, who lives in Warrensville Heights, used the money to pay off gambling debts and his own mortgage, among other personal expenses, prosecutors say.

Cleveland.com publicly disclosed for the first time in July that Rucker was under federal investigation. At the time, Rucker said he was cooperating with the investigation and suggested that someone had set him up.

Under the plea agreement, Rucker will also be required to pay back the money that he took.

Check back for updates.

My, that certainly didn't take long.

Question: He was apparently having money problems (well, that would be my guess - why else would you break the law?), so, how's he going to repay the money.

That aspect of it reminds me of a local guy that got busted for, basically fraud. Spent somewhere around 20 mths. in prison, and now has to repay over something like $1.2 million to the state. Ain't happening.

He wasn't, and probably still isn't a "Bad" man. He just made bad choices. Only he knows the reasons why.

http://www.cleveland.com/court-justice/i...tml#incart_2box

21 month jail sentence handed down. Was it enough?

Non-violent and he's having to pay restitution, I think so. Actually I'd be good with not locking him up at all if he was made to pay back twice as much. He wouldn't cost the taxpayers anything and it's hard for him to make money to pay people back while sitting in a federal prison.