UW-Stout player pleads guilty in steroids case

August 8, 2007

A former all-conference linebacker for the University of Wisconsin-Stout has pleaded guilty to reduced charges in a drug raid late last year.

Luke Steffen, 23, who now lives near Appleton, was convicted of possessing an anabolic steroid and maintaining a place for drug trafficking.

But the trafficking charge will be dropped in a year if Steffen stays clean, completes probation and testifies about how he obtained the steroids.

He got a year of probation on the possession charge, and he must spend 10 days in jail and 100 hours doing community service.

Two other Stout football players were charged as part of a regional drug investigation. Nicholas OrRico, 22, a junior linebacker from Chicago, has a plea hearing Aug. 27 for allegedly selling marijuana.

Former UW-Stout player John Freeman III, is due back in court Sept. 4 on five cocaine and marijuana-related charges.

And a fourth person, Gregory Stack, Plainfield, was charged with delivering steroids. He is not a football player.

Starting this fall, UW-Stout and 115 other schools will take part in a pilot drug testing program and they’ll educate players on the effects of drug usage.