W.Va. Mayor Pleads Guilty to Cocaine Possession in Plea Bargain, Must Quit

Mayor Mike Roark today admitted that he had used cocaine and pleaded guilty to six misdemeanor counts of cocaine possession as part of an agreement requiring him to resign from office by next Tuesday.

Roark, 41, will be subject to a $5,000 fine and one year in jail on each of the six counts as part of the plea agreement.

Roark, a former Kanawha County prosecutor and a one-time assistant U.S. attorney in Pittsburgh who had insisted that he had never used cocaine, had pleaded innocent to 27 drug conspiracy, possession and distribution counts and three counts of conspiring to obstruct justice by persuading a witness to lie to a grand jury.

Roark, a Republican, had long been mentioned as a potential GOP gubernatorial or congressional candidate. He had contended that the charges against him were politically motivated.

Roark said he has not used a controlled substance in the last 2 1/2 to 3 years.