Former Cleveland Brown Reggie Rucker was sentenced to 21 months behind bars for embezzlement.
He was sentenced by Federal Judge Dan Polster.
Rucker, 68, of Warrensville Heights struck a plea deal with prosecutors. He admitted embezzling more than $110,000 from urban peacemaker groups he oversaw. Prosecutors believe he stole more but that's the amount they were prepared to prove in court.
Prosecutors and Rucker's attorneys agreed on a sentencing range of 21-27 months. Judge Polster assigned the low end of that spectrum.
In court, Rucker called this "the most embarrassing thing I've experience." And he apologized for stealing money.
Former Browns coach Sam Rutigliano was a character witness for Rucker. He testified that the Rucker facing charges is not consistent with the upstanding football player he coached.
"That's not the Reggie Rucker that I knew for almost 50 years," Rutigliano said.
Rucker's clergyman, Rev. C. Ronald Williams of Mt. Zion Fellowship Church, said, " I just hate it all. I believe when justice and mercy come together , it equals grace and God gave him grace today."
Carlos Williams is with the group that Rucker stole money from and perhaps lost paychecks because of the theft.
He testified in court about Rucker's character.
"He taught me how to take care of my family and not be on the streets doing the things I used to do," Williams said.
Rucker's lawyers argued that multiple concussions he received during his career could have been a factor in his misconduct.
They ask who a 68-year-old man who had a difficult inner city upbringing but no criminal history would suddenly steal money.
"This is not a defense...We all have in the front of our brain parts that control impulsive and compulsive behavior and parts of these have been knocked off...They are not there any more, " lawyer Michael Hennenberg explained.
U.S. Attorney Carole Rendon pointed out that Rucker stole money over a period of time and took steps to cover his wrongdoing.
"This is not impulsive conduct. This is conduct that wend on for five years. It was not just the money he stole, but all the efforts to conceal his criminal conduct, " she argued.
Rucker also will pay about $110,841 of restitution using money he receives from an NFL fund for players who suffer head injuries.
Rucker will remain free for about 30 days before he is assigned to federal prison. His lawyers asked that he be assigned to a facility in Morgantown, West Virginia.
Judge Dan Polster said the low end of the possible sentence was enough to balance punishment and deterrence without being excessive.
He said if the Peacemakers' group had a vigilant board of directors, Rucker would not have had the ability to steal so freely for so long.
According to the U.S. Attorney, Rucker used the money he embezzled to pay his gambling debts and personal expenses.
“Mr. Rucker treated a non-profit bank account like his personal slush fund and stole more than $110,000 in charitable donations intended to keep the streets of Cleveland safe,” said U.S. Attorney Carole S. Rendon, in a news release.
"The victims in this case are the employees who did not get paid while Rucker spent their paychecks, the business leaders seduced with poignant guilt trips about civic responsibility and the at-risk youths forced to watch their potential role model revealed as a fraud.”
Rucker played wide receiver for the Cleveland Browns from 1975 through 1981, then worked as a broadcaster, stockbroker and financial analyst. Rucker served as executive director of Amer-I-Can Cleveland, a nonprofit organization located in Shaker Heights. He also served as president of the Cleveland Peacemakers Alliance, a collaboration of community organizations that employed outreach workers to resolve conflicts in Cleveland, according to a news release.
The U.S. Attorney's Office said that from 2011 through February 11, 2015, Rucker diverted funds intended to support Amer-I-Can and CPA for his personal use and in excess of any compensation he was entitled to receive. Rucker wrote checks to himself and made withdrawals from the Amer-I-Can bank account in amounts and frequencies unrelated to the work he performed, but rather dictated by his own personal financial needs, including to pay his mortgage, entertainment, meals, travel, groceries, and dry cleaning, according to court documents.