COLUMBUS, OHIO ? Maurice Clarett was charged Tuesday with lying about items stolen from his car, and Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said the school is ready to cut ties with the star running back.

Clarett was charged with misdemeanor falsification, city attorney spokesman Scott Varner said. If convicted, Clarett would face up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine. But probation likely is the harshest sentence a judge would impose, city prosecutor Stephen McIntosh said.

Tressel said he does not expect Clarett to return this season to the defending national champion Buckeyes. He would recommend that Clarett be released from his scholarship if the request was made by Clarett, the coach said.

Clarett has already been suspended indefinitely from the team, and probably will not play for the Buckeyes this season. He also is being investigated by the NCAA.

Tressel was asked if it was time for Clarett to move on.

“I think that he needs to make, along with his family, whatever decision he thinks is best for him,” Tressel said.

If Clarett’s career at Ohio State is over, the running back’s last carry would rank among the most memorable in school history. He scored on a five-yard run in the second overtime in a 31-24 victory over Miami in the Fiesta Bowl, giving the Buckeyes their first national championship in 34 years.

Alan C. Milstein, the Clarett family attorney, said he wasn’t surprised by Tressel’s comments or the misdemeanor charge.

“Nothing Ohio State does surprises me,” he said. “I don’t think the family recognizes what Ohio State’s actions and motivations are, either.”

Milstein declined to comment on whether Clarett would consider transferring.

NCAA spokeswoman Kay Hawes would not speak about the Clarett case, but did say that if a suspended or ineligible player transferred, the athlete’s new school first would have to declare him ineligible, and then would seek his reinstatement through the organization.

Ohio State has been working for more than two weeks on a response to “several pages” of allegations sent by the NCAA to the university.

Ohio State athletic director Andy Geiger wouldn’t comment Tuesday on the progress of the response, and said he didn’t know when it would be finished.

Hawes said the NCAA had not received Ohio State’s formal response.