Federal Grand Jury Indicts Mayor of Charleston, W.Va., on Drug Charges

CHARLESTON, W.Va. —  Mayor James E. (Mike) Roark, a former trial attorney for the Justice Department’s Organized Crime Strike Force, was charged in a 30-count indictment Friday with cocaine use, distribution, conspiracy and obstruction of justice.

The indictment came after more than two years of widely published reports linking Roark to alleged cocaine involvement.

Roark was one of four men indicted by a U.S. District Court grand jury meeting at Bluefield, W.Va., U.S. Atty. Mike Carey announced in Charleston.

The indictment of the second-term mayor is the result of an 18-month investigation in the Charleston area by a drug task force, Carey said. A date for Roark’s arraignment before a U.S. magistrate will be set, Carey said.

Roark, 41, was charged on 17 counts of possession of cocaine, nine counts of distributing and one count of conspiring with intent to distribute cocaine. The other three counts charged obstruction of justice, including allegedly inducing and causing a witness to give false information to the FBI and inducing the witness to commit perjury before the federal grand jury.

Roark, who has also been an assistant U.S. attorney in Pittsburgh, was not immediately available for comment.