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Thad Cochran's ex-top aide sentencing for drug distribution conspiracy delayed again - gets anot


By JOSH GERSTEIN

01/15/16 01:02 PM EST

A federal judge on Friday postponed sentencing for a former top aide to Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), giving the ex-staffer another opportunity to tell the government all he knows about distribution of methamphetamine and other drugs in the Washington area.

Longtime Senate Appropriations Committee staffer Fred Pagan pleaded guilty in August to a felony charge of distributing meth. The plea followed an April raid on his Washington home that turned up more than 100 grams of the drug. He also admitted to ordering and using GBL, a variant of the so-called "date rape" drug GHB.

Cochran, his wife and about two dozen other staffers and friends of Pagan were on hand for the expected sentencing Friday, where the defense had requested an opportunity for Cochran to address the court.

However, after U.S. District Court Judge Beryl Howell signaled her intention to impose a severe sentence in the case, she acceded to an unusual defense request to put off the sentencing to give Pagan another opportunity to disclose more details to the government about the sources of drugs he received.

"It's a little late," the judge said, before agreeing to what she said was "a very generous invitation" by the government to give Pagan another chance to come clean.

The postponement came after more than an hour of arguments about the facts and the appropriate punishment in the case. During those exchanges, prosecutor Jeffrey Pearlman said that while Pagan had provided details on some drug shipments he received, investigators don't believe he was fully forthcoming.

"The questions have not been answered. They've never been answered," Pearlman said.

Defense attorney Kobie Flowers insisted that Pagan had given investigators a lot of leads. "Mr. Pagan actually did tell the government everything," the attorney said. "He named names. ... At no time did Mr. Pagan hide the ball."

The judge noted, though, that Pagan had declined to speak to investigators again after an initial interview when they raided his home last April.

Going into Friday's hearing, prosecutors were recommending a 46-month sentence for Pagan, while the defense proposed probation and drug treatment.

Flowers argued to the judge that Pagan should be seen as cooperating and eligible for a shorter suggested sentence simply by providing information about the conspiracy he pleaded guilty to, rather than all the illegal conduct he knew about. The defense attorney said Pagan was addicted to meth, so it was unsurprising he had several contacts to buy the drug.

"Mr. Pagan as an addict had several suppliers," she said. "The simple feeding of the addiction had nothing to do with the conspiracy."

Since Pagan provided details on a large shipment of meth sent to his home, it's unclear why he may have been more reticent about discussing other, smaller transactions. Flowers said in court pleadings that Pagan became enmeshed in a "party and play" culture in Washington's gay community and that Pagan's psychological issues as a closeted gay man contributed to his addiction and his crime. He has no prior criminal record.

Howell made clear repeatedly that she viewed the drug conspiracy, which involved receiving meth from California, as very serious. She also indicated her view that Pagan should not receive leniency unless he did all he could to help the government shut down those supplies. And she bluntly rejected Flowers' suggestion that the agents who raided Pagan's home, interviewed him and arrested him acted improperly.

"I'm not persuaded that the agents here did anything at all wrong, in fact to the contrary," the judge said.

Pagan 49, worked for Cochran for more than three decades, starting out as a page in 1983 and working his way up through the ranks to become one of his most senior and trusted staffers, according to a defense sentencing memo.

Cochran had little to say as he left the courthouse Friday. "We're just here to answer any questions about a former staffer," the senator said.

Howell is also a former Senate aide. She served for a decade on the Democratic staff of the Senate Judiciary Committee, eventually becoming its general counsel. She worked in the private sector for several years before being appointed to the federal bench by President Barack Obama in 2010.

Pagan has been free pending sentencing, but there was a pair of marshals in the courtroom Friday ready to take him into custody if the judge ordered it.

No firm date was set for the continued sentencing hearing.

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