MADISON - ST. CLAIR RECORD

Trial for accused drug dealer Sean McGilvery has been continued for another two months.

McGilvery, who was charged in May with conspiracy to distribute and possess more than 1 kilogram of heroin with the intent to deliver, was set to be tried on those charges before U.S. District Judge Michael Reagan in the Southern District of Illinois on Sept. 16.

McGilvery’s attorney, public defender Rodney Holmes of St. Louis, filed a sealed motion Tuesday seeking to continue the trial.

Reagan granted the order today and reset trial to Nov. 18.

McGilvery is among several suspects who were rounded up in a drug scandal that rocked the St. Clair County courthouse three months ago.

Federal agents arrested Circuit Judge Michael Cook at McGilvery’s Belleville home on May 22. He was later charged with possessing heroin and being an unlawful user of a controlled substance in possession of firearms. Cook entered a not guilty plea to both charges. He stepped down from the bench shortly after charges were filed and entered into a drug treatment facility in Minnesota following an order signed by Magistrate Judge Clifford J. Proud setting conditions of his release.

U.S. District Judge Joe McDade of Peoria will preside over Cook’s case, which is set for trial Oct. 1.

James Fogarty, a former employee in the St. Clair County probation department, also faces related charges. He was charged in May with possession of cocaine with intent to deliver and being an unlawful user of a controlled substance in possession of a firearm. He has pleaded not guilty and also faces trial Nov. 18.

He is accused of supplying drugs to Cook and the late Associate Judge Joseph Christ, who died March 10 of cocaine intoxication at a Cook family-owned Pike County hunting cabin. He allegedly told an FBI agent that he had used drugs with both judges on multiple occasions.