© 2024 St. Louis Public Radio
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Former St. Clair County Circuit Judge's Heroin Supplier Pleads Guilty In Federal Court

(Derik Holtmann/Belleville News-Democrat)
/
(http://www.bnd.com)

Federal prosecutors say a southwestern Illinois man who admitted to trafficking heroin supplied the narcotic almost daily to a former judge now facing drug and weapons charges.

Thirty-four-year-old Sean McGilvery of Belleville pleaded guilty to heroin conspiracy and possession Thursday in U.S. District Court in East St. Louis.
 Prosecutors say Michael Cook was a St. Clair County circuit judge when he got heroin from McGilvery "on an almost daily basis."

Cook is the central figure in a St. Clair County courthouse drug scandal. Authorities say he was with prosecutor-turned-judge Joe Christ at the Cook family's hunting cabin in March when Christ died of a cocaine overdose.

Federal prosecutors later charged Cook with unrelated heroin and gun charges. He has resigned from the bench, pleaded not guilty and awaits trial.