Former Ohio State Star Clarett Gets $5 Million Bond for Gun Charge

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A judge ordered a $5 million bond Thursday for Maurice Clarett, saying she set the amount so high because the former Ohio State football star is accused of fleeing police in a sport utility vehicle, where four loaded guns were found.

Prosecutors had asked Franklin County Municipal Judge Andrea Peeples for a bond of at least $1 million for Clarett on a charge of carrying a concealed weapon.

"We feel he's a threat to the community," Assistant Prosecutor Chris Brown said.

Clarett's latest run-in with the law began when police noticed an SUV driving erratically in the early morning hours Wednesday. A highway chase ensued, then ended when police spiked Clarett's tires, sending his vehicle limping into a restaurant parking lot.

Officers said they could not easily subdue him because the bulletproof vest he was wearing thwarted their stun guns. It took several police using pepper spray to get the 6-foot, 245-pounder into handcuffs.

He continued to struggle even as he was taken away, kicking at the doors of the transport vehicle, police said. Officers also secured a cloth mask over Clarett's mouth after they say he spat at them.

On Wednesday, prosecutors asked a judge to keep him in jail and revoke his bond on an earlier robbery charge.

They said they were concerned that Clarett was carting all those guns around only a few blocks from the home of a woman who was set to testify against him next week in an alleged robbery outside a Columbus bar.

Another judged raised that bond to $1.1 million, and Clarett's attorney, Nick Mango, said that amount would likely be too high for Clarett to pay, meaning he would stay in jail for the duration of the robbery trial, which starts Monday.

Mango said the $5 million bond set Thursday was excessive.

He would not speculate on why the guns were in the SUV Clarett was driving, he said.

"We're very confident that there was no intent to harm anyone," he said.