Politics

Trey Radel sentenced to one year probation for cocaine possession

Alexis Levinson Political Reporter
Font Size:

WASHINGTON — Florida Rep. Trey Radel pled guilty on Wednesday to possession of cocaine and was sentenced to one year of partially supervised probation.

Radel was caught in a sting last month by an undercover police officer, according to the government attorney at Radel’s arraignment on Wednesday at the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. “Confidential sources and informants” made law enforcement aware that the congressman had, on “several occasions,” purchased and used cocaine, both by himself and at times sharing with others.

Senior Judge Robert Tignor, who presided over the case, asked Radel at the start of the arraignment if he was currently “under the influence” of any drug.

“No, Your Honor,” Radel replied.

According to the prosecutor, on October 29, Radel purchased 3.5 grams of cocaine for $260 from the undercover police officer. He was at a Dupont Circle restaurant with an acquaintance of his with whom he had on multiple occasions used cocaine, as well as an undercover officer. Radel invited the two to come to his apartment, where he said he had some cocaine, but both declined. The undercover officer then offered to sell Radel cocaine, offering an exchange of 3.5 grams of cocaine for $250. They completed the deal, with Radel ultimately paying $260 for the cocaine, in the undercover officer’s car. When Radel emerged from the car, he was approached by DEA and FBI officials. Radel dropped the cocaine to the street, but later confessed to purchasing cocaine voluntarily admitted to and surrendered a quantity of cocaine already in his apartment.

Radel told Judge Tignor that at the time he was fully aware that he was purchasing “a drug, cocaine.”

Dave Schertler, Radel’s attorney, told the court that Radel had already entered outpatient treatment for drug counseling in the wake of the incident through the Executive Addictive Disease Programs here in D.C. He said his client recognized that he had a problem, and planned to enter inpatient in his home of Naples, Florida, and then return to outpatient treatment. He asked the court for six months of unsupervised probation.

Tignor expressed skepticism that the court could monitor Radel’s compliance and progress without some supervision, and instead recommended twelve months of partially supervised probation. Radel must pay a $250 fine to the Victims Compensation Fund.

Radel apologized for his actions and expressed a desire to continue to serve his country, in a statement before the court. He has said nothing about whether he will resign his seat in congress. He was not wearing his congressional pin on the lapel of his black suit at the hearing.

The congressman did not speak to the crowd of reporters that chased after him as he left the courtroom and walked outside to a waiting car. He kept his lips tightly drawn and looked straight ahead, as he had in court, and stopped only once, to check on a female reporter who tripped and fell in the scramble to chase after him.

In a statement Tuesday afternoon after the story broke, Radel said he was “profoundly sorry to let down my family, particularly my wife and son, and the people of Southwest Florida,” and acknowledged that he continued to “struggle with the disease of alcoholism,” which he said “led to an extremely irresponsible choice.”

Follow Alexis on Twitter

Tags : trey radel
Alexis Levinson

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel