DA: Plea deal in works for UW-Stout football players
(Published Thursday, April 12, 2007 10:26:00 AM CST)
A d v e r t i s e m e n t
Associated Press
MENOMONIE, Wis. - Two former University of Wisconsin-Stout football players are unlikely to face trial on drug charges because a plea deal is in the works, the Dunn County district attorney said.
"There are ongoing negotiations," District Attorney James Peterson said during a Tuesday court hearing.
Luke Steffen, a former senior linebacker from Greenwood, told police that people used his house in Menomonie "to use, buy, sell, package and store various controlled substances" including marijuana, cocaine and steroids, according to a police report. He was arrested in December and charged with maintaining a drug trafficking place and three misdemeanor counts of possession of marijuana, possession of cocaine and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Nicholas OrRico, junior linebacker from Lodi, told investigators that he purchased marijuana in the Twin Cities and sold it to his friends, a criminal complaint said. He was charged with two felonies - manufacture and delivery of marijuana and possession of marijuana - and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia.
A third former UW-Stout football player, John Henry Freeman III, also faces drug charges after Steffen allegedly told police Freeman sold cocaine and marijuana out of his home.
UW-Stout and up to 115 other schools will participate in an NCAA pilot program starting next school year that will subject some of their athletes to random drug testing and require them to educate players on the effects of drug use.
