By Roger McKinney
rmckinney@joplinglobe.com
Former Cherokee County Attorney Michael Goodrich is scheduled to be released today from the Federal Bureau of Prisons after serving his sentence.
It is a little more than 10 months since he started his prison term after being convicted on one count of felony extortion.
Goodrich, in pleading guilty, admitted to receiving money and favorable treatment from management of Sensations Gentleman’s Club. In return, Goodrich said he provided favorable legal treatment to some of the club’s employees.
The club south of Galena and east of Baxter Springs features nude women dancers.
U.S. District Judge Monti Belot in January 2009 sentenced Goodrich, 49, of Baxter Springs, Kan., to a year and a day in prison. He began his sentence March 24, 2009, at the U.S. Penitentiary in Marion, Ill., where he was housed in a minimum-security area.
Since Nov. 17, he has been in one of 43 residential re-entry centers supervised by the Kansas City (Kan.) Community Corrections Management office. The residential re-entry centers are commonly referred to as halfway houses. They are designed to transition inmates to residential living before their release.
A co-defendant, Timothy Schooley, 30, of Baxter Springs, was sentenced to a year on probation and two months of home confinement after pleading guilty to blackmailing Goodrich. He admitted that while he was in Goodrich’s company in 2007, he demanded a share of money Goodrich received from an employee of Sensations and that he obtained the money by threatening to inform authorities about Goodrich’s activities.
Schooley was placed in a halfway house for 120 days in January 2009 after he missed a scheduled drug test by a probation officer.
Goodrich resigned as county attorney on Dec. 1, 2007, after being indicted on Sept. 19, 2007.
Law license suspended
The Kansas Supreme Court has suspended Michael Goodrich’s law license. The Kansas Supreme Court’s office of the disciplinary administrator is expected to consider his permanent disbarment at a future hearing.
