RoguePlanet

Thursday, September 6, 2007

COLUMBIA — Former state treasurer Thomas Ravenel pleaded guilty this morning to a federal charge of possessing with intent to distribute cocaine.

Ravenel said he would buy cocaine occasionally and then might not do it for a month or a couple weeks. It was all about sharing it with people he was partying with and making contacts.

By ADAM BEAM and JOHN O’CONNOR, Staff Writers

Former state treasurer Thomas Ravenel admitted he’d been using cocaine for the past two years this morning in federal court in Columbia, as he pled guilty to conspiring to buy and distribute less than 100 grams of cocaine.

Ravenel, according to federal prosecutor, held parties at his home where he bought cocaine and gave it to party goers. Prosecutors say Ravenel on several occasions bought cocaine from co-defendant Michael L. Miller, a Charleston disc jockey.

Flanked by attorneys, Ravenel at first told Judge Joseph Anderson that he had not been treated for drugs, but then clarified that the treatment was more about his “childhood issues,” and “why I was engaging in reckless or immature behavior.”

This afternoon, Ravenel released a statement through his attorneys clarifying what he meant by “childhood issues.”

“The childhood issues I referred to are the ones that arose when my parents divorced 35 years ago when I was just 10 years old. A divorce is always hard on young children and, through counseling, I am learning that I am no exception to that rule,” he said.