Drug Testing Is Central Theme In St. Clair County Judicial Race: Rudolf v. McGlynn
From the Madison County Record
When St. Clair County judge Michael Cook was arrested last year on heroin possession charges, the community was stunned.
Not just because he was addicted to drugs while serving as drug court judge, but also because it was learned that fellow judge Joe Christ’s death two months earlier was not really from natural causes as authorities indicated at the time. It was actually due to a cocaine overdose brought on by partying with Cook at Cook’s Pike County hunting lodge.
The public also found out that county probation officer James Fogarty was dealing and using drugs with Cook and Christ. They further learned that Christ, a long time felony prosecutor in the State’s Attorney’s office before his appointment as judge, arranged for the dismissal of a ticket issued to a drug dealer who supplied Cook, and Cook dismissed it even though it was not on his docket.
Cook quickly resigned in May 2013, a guilty plea followed, and now he serves a two year prison sentence at a minimum security federal prison camp in Pensacola, Fla.
But, in the 18 months since he was arrested, the Record has reported that an FBI agent in a sworn affidavit portrayed Cook as partner of heroin dealer Sean McGilvery rather than his customer, as their eventual guilty pleas would indicate. Rather than pursuing more serious charges against Cook, the federal prosecutor ultimately charged Cook with offenses based on a warrant for a home search involving a drug user owning weapons, instead of the FBI agent’s warrant for tracking drug dealing.
The newspaper also reported that genetic tests connected Cook more closely to a “one-hitter” cocaine device that was found on Christ’s body during autopsy, than it did to Christ.
Read more in our daily News Update...
From the Madison County Record
When St. Clair County judge Michael Cook was arrested last year on heroin possession charges, the community was stunned.
Not just because he was addicted to drugs while serving as drug court judge, but also because it was learned that fellow judge Joe Christ’s death two months earlier was not really from natural causes as authorities indicated at the time. It was actually due to a cocaine overdose brought on by partying with Cook at Cook’s Pike County hunting lodge.
The public also found out that county probation officer James Fogarty was dealing and using drugs with Cook and Christ. They further learned that Christ, a long time felony prosecutor in the State’s Attorney’s office before his appointment as judge, arranged for the dismissal of a ticket issued to a drug dealer who supplied Cook, and Cook dismissed it even though it was not on his docket.
Cook quickly resigned in May 2013, a guilty plea followed, and now he serves a two year prison sentence at a minimum security federal prison camp in Pensacola, Fla.
But, in the 18 months since he was arrested, the Record has reported that an FBI agent in a sworn affidavit portrayed Cook as partner of heroin dealer Sean McGilvery rather than his customer, as their eventual guilty pleas would indicate. Rather than pursuing more serious charges against Cook, the federal prosecutor ultimately charged Cook with offenses based on a warrant for a home search involving a drug user owning weapons, instead of the FBI agent’s warrant for tracking drug dealing.
The newspaper also reported that genetic tests connected Cook more closely to a “one-hitter” cocaine device that was found on Christ’s body during autopsy, than it did to Christ.
Read more in our daily News Update...