Tom Lakin
Property formerly owned by Lakin in East Alton.
U.S. District Judge Phil Gilbert signed an order turning over $325,000 that had belonged to Thomas Lakin to the U.S. Marshal Service.
Lakin, who was sentenced by Gilbert in October to six years in prison on drug charges, was ordered to forfeit $325,000 as part of his plea agreement.
In the order signed Monday, Gilbert stated that the U.S. government has clear title to the cash -- which was provided by Lakin in lieu of property he once owned at 287 Oakley Pl. in East Alton -- after no third parties petitioned for an interest in the property.
A notice regarding the property was published by the government on www.forfeiture.gov for 30 days between Nov. 11 and Dec. 10, 2008, according to Gilbert's order.
"The U.S. Marshal shall dispose of the property according to law," Gilbert wrote.
In his plea agreement, Lakin also was ordered to pay an estimated $128,800 for the cost of his incarceration and pay $180,000 in restitution.
In exchange for pleading guilty to possessing and distributing cocaine to a person under 21 and maintaining a drug-involved premises, federal prosecutors dropped sex charges that carried a sentence of life in prison.
Last month the federal government petitioned to garnish $148,831 from the Lakin Law Firm in Wood River, now named LakinChapman, to satisfy a debt owed by Thomas Lakin.
Lakin is serving his sentence in a federal prison in Arkansas.