An Ohio baseball player and former teammate were charged this morning with accepting bets on professional sports, while two other baseball players have been indefinitely suspended from the team for allegedly having placed bets.
Andrew Shisila, 22, a pitcher from Mentor, Ohio, and Brent DeCoster, 22, from Westlake, Ohio, were both charged with bookmaking, a first-degree misdemeanor that could result in up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine, City Law Director Pat Lang said at a news conference this morning.
DeCoster was a pitcher on the Ohio baseball team in 2005 and is a current OU senior, while Shisila, also a senior, is a current member of the team and has been suspended.
Both will appear in Athens Municipal Court on Thursday.
The two other baseball players who were suspended are suspected of placing bets but have not been criminally charged. Because of privacy laws, Ohio Director of Athletics Kirby Hocutt said he could not release their names. He added there was no evidence that those accused bet on or tried to influence the outcome of Ohio sporting events.
Hocutt said investigators believe that eight people were involved in the gambling ring ' including five current students. Three of those five students are baseball players, and the other two are not athletes. Shisila and DeCoster are accused of organizing the betting ring, while the others placed bets.
Hocutt said he does not expect that the two other baseball players will face criminal charges. All students involved will be referred to University Judiciaries.
The charges to Shisila and DeCoster were the result of an Ohio University Police Department investigation that began after Hocutt and baseball coach Joe Carbone received an anonymous tip alleging that a student-athlete was involved in sports betting.The Post obtained a copy of the e-mail that accused Shisila of being a betting book maker. Shisila was the only person explicitly named in the e-mail.
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Katie Carrera
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Andrew Shisila
Three baseball players suspended for alleged involvement
