By Roger McKinney
rmckinney@joplinglobe.com
A co-defendant of former Cherokee County (Kan.) Attorney Michael Goodrich on Monday was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Wichita, Kan., to a year of probation, with two months home confinement, and fined $1,000 for blackmail.
Timothy Schooley, 30, of Baxter Springs, had faced a possible maximum penalty of a year in federal prison and a fine of up to $100,000, but under a plea agreement, the U.S. attorney’s office dismissed a felony extortion charge.
Schooley pleaded guilty in April to one count of extortion and admitted that while he was in Goodrich’s company between March and May 2007, he demanded a share of money Goodrich received from an employee of Sensations Gentleman’s Club in rural Galena. The club features nude women dancing.
Schooley admitted obtaining the money by threatening to inform authorities that Goodrich was accepting favorable treatment and money from the club in return for providing favorable legal treatment for club employees while he was county prosecutor.
Goodrich was initially charged with two felony counts of extortion, one felony count of wire fraud and a felony count of witness intimidation.
The indictment was handed down by a federal grand jury on Sept. 19, 2007. Goodrich resigned on Dec. 1.
Goodrich is set to be sentenced Sept. 8 after pleading guilty in June to one count of extortion.
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