Hockey Player Turned Broker Now in Jail

Following a career as a professional hockey player, Rudy Poeschek became a top mortgage originator at a Florida firm, then left to so he could play hockey again. But instead of resurrecting his sports career, he landed in a county jail and now awaits trial with no chance of being released on bail. The former fan-favorite of the Tampa Bay Lightning has been in the Hillsborough County Jail since his arrest on March 13 — unable to be bailed out due to violations of probation on previous convictions, according to Debbie Carter, spokeswoman for the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office. Poeschek, 38, began his journey to jail with a reckless cruise in which he drove his Lexus sport-utility vehicle through a few lawns, hitting a few mailboxes, a tree, and a sewer drainage — all with his unrestrained 5-year old daughter in the car, Carter said. He flattened two tires before stopping his vehicle in his neighborhood, according to published reports.

Rudy Poeschek mugshot

The self-employed broker left the scene on foot and avoided police, but was taken into custody after being shot with a Taser. Poeschek, who was driving with a revoked license, is charged with being a habitual traffic offender, driving with an unrestrained child, leaving the scene of a crash and obstructing or opposing an officer without violence, Carter said. Add-on charges resulting from probation violations include obtaining a controlled substance by fraud and tempering with evidence.The 6-foot-2-inch Canadian-born man will remain in custody for about another month, the spokeswoman said. According to records of the sheriff’s office, Poeschek had been released from jail just 12 days prior to embarking on the reckless drive. In total, the he’s been arrested nine times since January 2003 — the first of the series charged him with battery and child abuse.

The string of arrests apparently started shortly after attempting to resurrect his presence in major league hockey and leaving Harborside Mortgage of Florida Inc.

Poeschek’s hockey career ended in the minor leagues in 2001. While he made an attempted comeback in the Lightning in 2002, he was cut in September, according to the St. Petersburg Times.

Tim Love, owner of the Clearwater-based Harborside, told MortgageDaily.com that Poeschek stopped working for the company about 18 months ago. Poeschek began his mortgage career as a loan officer at the correspondent lender as a post-hockey career move. He made a two-year run with the company before personal issues got in the way of his work.

But, “when [Poeschek] was doing mortgages here, he was great,” Love said.

Poeschek’s role in the ice rink carried over to the mortgage business.

Hockey “teams have what they call an enforcer,” explained Love, and “that was his role here. He was a fan-favorite. He was extremely well-liked and extremely popular,” which definitely helped him at the office.

The former hockey player’s production while at Harborside made him the top loan officer for 2002. He had the largest loan size per transaction at just over $200,000 and his volume was about $1.1 million per month, according to Love. Some of the loans he closed were for hockey players.

Harborside closes about $4 million in loans a month, including VA and FHA, with about 80% being purchase loans and a majority being nonconforming, the company owner said.

Love said he met Poeschek about 10 years ago through the “Reading with Rudy” charity they jointly ran in which the former hockey player was the spokesman. When children met their reading goals, they were rewarded with a pizza par