Edward Rife (OSU tattoo guy) expected to plead in court today

Edward Rife

((ht: Columbus Dispatch))

Updated 11:45am ht: nbc4i.com--Rife did plead guilty to drug trafficking and money laundering charges. No word yet on his sentence.

Obviously, we'll update this story later in the day after he appears. But we wanted to let everyone know that the man at the center of the Ohio State "Tattoo-gate" problems is expected to plead guilty to drug trafficking charges in the U.S District Court in Columbus.

Edward Rife owns Fine Line Ink Tattoos, and his place in the public eye came after it was discovered he was selling signed memorabilia from Ohio State football players. Active OSU football players.

That revelation has sent the Ohio State football program and administration into an incredible tailspin. The active players involved were suspended for the 1st 5 games of 2011. The investigation eventually cost now former coach Jim Tressell his job.

You can read Tuesday mornings update from the Columbus Dispatch RIGHT HERE

Rife's plea will not have much of an impact on the NCAA investigation. The NCAA is looking at this incident along with many, many other issues that have cropped up since this all began last year.

The memorabilia that Rife has will be sold by the government if Rife can't come up with $50,000 he apparently agreed to fork over for it.

Check back frequently, we'll let you know what happened with this story later today.

Tattoo You: tOSU Rife With Charges

((HT: WBNS-TV Columbus))

The tattoo parlor owner whose relationship with Ohio State football players led to suspensions and the current, rather in-depth, NCAA investigation is pleading guilty to federal charges including drug trafficking.

Edward Rife faces anywhere up to 40 years in prison and a $2 million fine. Rife is cooperating with authorities in the case in the hopes that it will minimize any sentence.

And you don't think the NCAA was paying attention until now...???

Guess what...???

The HQ now only thinks it is a matter of time until there are people fired as a result of this investigation, not just a "person."

Here's the latest from 10TV...


And we also think the whole "death penalty" thing may be waved in front of everyone and their family in Columbus... but it won't get there...

Here's the plea agreement...

Ohio State's problems keep getting worse

Jim Tressel/Courtesy: wikipedia.org

((ht: Columbus Dispatch))

There may very well have been an even bigger reason that Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel lied about what he knew about his players involvement with  Columbus area tattoo artist and alleged drug dealer Edward Rife.

Turns out the transactions were much more involved..and numerous than people thought.

The Columbus Dispatch got a hold of some documentaion from the U.S Department of Justice spelling out the details. Many of the transactions were "Trades" something "Technically" not an NCAA violation and not something new, which would not put the players in any more trouble.

Read the Columbus Dispatch story RIGHT HERE

While true that it doesn't add any more allegations or charges to what is already out there (partially because it was already known by authorities), it gives even more perspective and paints a worse picture of the problem.

What it does is put Tressel's lies in more focus. If he knew about some of this, he knew about all of this. He very obviously knew that what was done was bad. And you can call it "Trying to protect the kids", you can call it "Doing what's best for the team", but you'd be wrong. It makes Ohio State no different than any other team that's been caught with its hand in the cookie jar and we can only hope that the NCAA doesn't wimp out let them off easy. 

Here's WBNS-TV's coverage... Andrea Cambern is at the center of the adult table...