Former All-American DeCree indicted on drug charges, fraud

Staff report

WARREN

Van DeCree, 58, of Tod Avenue Northwest, a former All-American defensive end on the football team at Ohio State University in 1973 and 1974, has been indicted on five drug charges and one count of workers’ compensation fraud.

He will be arraigned on the six felonies and one misdemeanor at 1:30 p.m. next Thursday before Judge Andrew Logan of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court.

DeCree, a Warren Western Reserve High School graduate, was stopped by a Warren police officer Jan. 5 on Atlantic Street Northwest near Mahoning Avenue for failing to use his headlights at night.

The officer determined that DeCree was driving on a suspended driver’s license and placed him under arrest.

While searching DeCree, the officer found two small bags of suspected crack cocaine in his pants pocket, according to a Warren police report. DeCree, who is 6-foot-3 and 275 pounds, complained to the officer of chest pains and was taken to ValleyCare Trumbull Memorial Hospital.

DeCree’s indictment accuses him of falsifying or altering documents related to a claim he filed with the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation or a self- insuring employer on Dec. 8, 2011.

He’s also accused of using deception to obtain Vicodin in bulk amounts from October 2010 through early 2011.