Dons Player Arrested on Drug Charges

Steve Calhoun, a quarterback for the Rancho Santiago College football team, was arrested early Sunday morning and charged with possession of marijuana with intention to sell.

As a result of the charges, Calhoun, 20, has been suspended from the team for the rest of the season, Rancho Santiago Athletic Director Roger Wilson said Monday.

Calhoun, who was released later Sunday after posting $10,000 bail, will be arraigned Nov. 21 in Harbor Municipal Court in Newport Beach. According to a Costa Mesa Police Dept. report, Calhoun was stopped as he was leaving the Orange Coast College stadium parking lot at 12:40 a.m. because the car he was driving answered the description of a vehicle used in a robbery in Costa Mesa.

The Dons had defeated Orange Coast, 43-15, Saturday night at Orange Coast.

The officers searched the car and found no evidence of the robbery, but found several cellophane bags of a substance believed to be marijuana in the trunk. Calhoun had given the officers permission to look in the trunk, according to the report.

Calhoun initially told the police the marijuana wasn’t his, but later recanted, saying he had gotten the drugs in Santa Ana with the intention to sell it to friends. He told police he was trying to raise money because his family is on a fixed income.

Calhoun, who played in all six of Rancho Santiago’s games this season, told Coach Dave Ogas that he was selling the drug to raise money to be able stay in school.

“He had a big game Saturday night and went out and screwed it up,” Ogas said.

Calhoun had a meeting Monday morning with Ogas and Wilson, during which he was informed of his suspension.

“I told him to stay in school and try and become a model citizen,” Wilson said.

Ogas said Calhoun, who completed five of eight passes for 48 yards against OCC Saturday, would have been alternating with Richard Fanti as starting quarterbacks had the arrest not occurred.

Calhoun came to Rancho Santiago last year after playing the 1988 season at OCC, where he completed 54 of 106 passes for 662 yards and two touchdowns. He was intercepted seven times.

Calhoun was a redshirt at Rancho Santiago last season.