By Robert Patrick
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
EAST ST. LOUIS — A federal judge here sentenced former St. Clair County probation officer James K. Fogarty on Thursday to five years in prison after he admitted selling cocaine to — and using it with — two Illinois judges.
Fogarty, then 46, pleaded guilty in November to federal drug charges in a deal for five years, but the sentence had been in question. U.S. District Judge Michael Reagan had warned that he would reject the terms in favor of a higher sentence if it could be shown that Fogarty supplied the cocaine that caused St. Clair County Associate Judge Joseph Christ’s fatal overdose on March 10.
But First Assistant U.S. Attorney Jim Porter said during Thursday’s hearing that there was “no credible evidence” linking Fogarty’s cocaine to Christ’s death.
Porter said investigators spent hours with the doctor who performed Christ’s autopsy and consulted experts on cocaine intoxication, the cause of Christ’s death. He said officials cannot prove and do not believe that Fogarty’s cocaine was the cause.
After court, defense lawyer Clyde Kuehn told reporters that the amount of cocaine Christ had taken was different from ?what Fogarty sold to him days before his death.
“There was a ton of cocaine,” he said.
Kuehn also said that Fogarty was not the main cocaine supplier to Christ and former St. Clair County Circuit Judge Michael N. “Mike” Cook, although he said he did not know that dealer’s name.
“Fogarty was not the go-to guy for Christ or anybody else. They had another source,” he said.
Kuehn said that before a trip to the Cook family hunting lodge near Pleasant Hill, Ill., where Christ died, Christ “implored” Fogarty to get him cocaine. Fogarty went to August “Gus” Stacker Jr., bought $270 worth, and Christ paid him $280, Kuehn said.
Kuehn declined to comment on whether Fogarty supplied cocaine to others and whether he made money doing so.
The lawyer said his client cooperated with authorities and would continue to do so if needed.
Fogarty pleaded guilty Nov. 6 to two charges: intent to distribute cocaine and being a drug user in possession of a firearm. He admitted delivering cocaine to Cook and Christ on March 8, and admitted responsibility for moving a total of between two and three and one-half kilograms of cocaine. He also admitted being addicted to drugs.
He did not speak in court Thursday, but Kuehn said that after Fogarty became sober, he had an “epiphany” that made him realize “how egregious his conduct was” as a probation officer who was supervising others. Fogarty also was a private detective.
Investigators were already investigating Cook and others connected to him at the time of Christ’s death. Cook entered a residential drug treatment facility after his arrest and resigned from the bench. He was scheduled to be sentenced Wednesday to 18 months in prison after pleading guilty of misdemeanor heroin possession and a felony charge of being a drug use in possession of a firearm.
But U.S. District Judge Joe Billy McDade refused to accept the deal, saying it included an 18-month prison term that is not long enough. It means Cook must either renegotiate a plea bargain acceptable to the judge or go to trial.
Fogarty’s five years falls just above the low end of the federal sentencing guidelines in his case. He may be able to shave up to a year off the sentence if he successfully completes an intensive drug treatment program in prison.
U.S. District Judge Michael Reagan also ordered Fogarty to pay a $500 fine and complete six years of supervised release after he gets out of prison.
Stacker was sentenced Jan. 31 to eight months in federal prison on a cocaine distribution charge.