| Graphic: MotivatedPhotos.com |
A well-respected senior federal judge in Georgia pleaded guilty on Friday to helping an exotic dancer buy cocaine, marijuana and prescription pain pills.
Jack Camp, 67, pleaded guilty in federal court to a felony charge of aiding and abetting a felon’s possession of cocaine and two misdemeanor charges, illegal drug possession and unlawfully giving his U.S. District Court-issued laptop computer to the stripper for her personal use, reports Reuters.
Judge Camp resigned as part of his plea, and he could be facing up to four years in prison. He will be sentenced March 4.
Camp was reportedly involved with the stripper over the past several months, reports Bill Rankin at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. His arrest and revelations of his affair with the stripper shocked the state’s legal community.
The judge will be forced to serve at least 15 days in custody. Federal sentencing guidelines recommend a term of four to 10 months in prison, although Camp and his attorneys can ask for a more lenient sentence.
| Photo: The Raw Story |
| Judge Jack T. Camp: “I regret… I’m embarrassed” |
As he began the hearing, Senior U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan referred to the white-haired defendant as “Judge Camp.” But at the end of the proceeding, he called the now-ex judge “Mr. Camp.”
Before accepting the guilty plea, Hogan recounted the sordid details of Camp’s illicit relationship with the stripper, his use of drugs, and his bringing handguns to drug deals. He then asked Camp if the summary was true.
“I regret… I’m embarrassed it is, Your Honor,” Camp stammered in apology.
At the end of the hearing, Camp gave his wife, who was sitting on the front row behind him with other family members, an extended hug.
Outside the courtroom after the hearing, lawyer Judson Starr, a member of Camp’s legal team, said that Camp “deeply regrets the recent circumstances that brought him here today.”
Camp met the stripper at an Atlanta club last spring when he bought a private dance from her, according to a federal criminal complaint filed in October.
And once he had seen what she had to offer, the judge apparently just couldn’t stop thinking about her.
| Photo: Bananas |
Putting his decades-long career at risk, the lovestruck magistrate returned to the club the next day, paid the dancer for sex and snorted cocaine with her, the complaint said.
The amorous arbiter and his concupiscent cokehead continued to meet for sex and drugs, prosecutors claim.
On October 1, the judge and the stripper — who by then, surprise surprise, was cooperating with FBI officials — bought drugs from an undercover agent. Just before the drug buy, the judge bragged that he was carrying a pistol.
“I’ll watch your back anytime,” he boasted to the sexy dancer, according to the federal complaint.
Camp was busted within minutes, and two loaded pistols were recovered from his truck.
The judge, a member of a prominent Coweta County, Georgia family, was appointed to the federal bench in 1987 by President Ronald Reagan and served as chief judge in the Northern District of Georgia before taking senior status in 2008, a form of semi-retirement.
