Former NFL Player Reggie Rucker Charged With Embezzling From Charities

CLEVELAND — Former NFL wide receiver Reggie Rucker was charged in federal court with illegally siphoning off more than $100,000 from his anti-violence charities to pay off gambling debts and personal expenses, prosecutors in Cleveland said on Tuesday.

Rucker, 68, was charged with one count of wire fraud and one count of making false statements to the FBI when it questioned him about his suspected diversion of charitable funds, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Ohio said.

Rucker, who played in the National Football League from 1970 to 1981, spending most of his career with the Cleveland Browns, heads two anti-violence charities called Amer-I-Can Cleveland and the Cleveland…