Commissioner on plea calendar for marijuana, tag offense

Fayette County Commissioner Robert Horgan is expected to appear in state court Oct. 22 to enter a guilty plea on charges of misdemeanor possession of marijuana and driving with an expired tag.

Horgan was arrested May 23 by a Fayette County deputy sheriff after being pulled over on Stanley Road for the expired tag. The deputy did not detect any signs of impairment before Horgan was stopped, sheriff’s officials later said.

According to the incident report, Horgan first told the sheriff’s deputy he had nothing illegal in the vehicle. Later Horgan admitted at the scene that he had smoked marijuana while driving the truck, the report said.

According to a detailed report from Dep. Justin Storm, who conducted the traffic stop, Horgan made a plea after he was handcuffed and placed under arrest.

“While Horgan was sitting in the back of my patrol vehicle, he asked Deputy J. Davidson and I ‘If there was anything that we could do to resolve this right here, right now!’” the report said. “I told him no.”

Afterward, Horgan was taken to the Fayette County Jail. The report does not indicate whether or not Horgan identified himself as a county commissioner, nor whether the deputies may have recognized him as being a county commissioner.

The vehicle’s tag had expired three weeks earlier on April 30 and was registered to Horgan’s business, Mr. Transmission. The expired tag was the deputy’s initial reason for pulling Horgan over, but upon reaching the truck the deputy detected the smell of marijuana.

Horgan admitted to the offense and consented to a search of the vehicle, telling the deputy where the marijuana was, officials said.

Horgan told deputies he had been returning home from the Lowe’s home improvement store. Because of that key detail, a Superior Court judge turned down a citizen group’s request to have Horgan recalled from office, which would have touched off up to two special elections: one to determine whether he should be thrown out of office and the other, should Horgan be dismissed after the first vote, to determine his replacement.

A group of three county attorneys recently ruled that Horgan violated the county’s ethics ordinance by not upholding the laws of the state and also that his conduct was unbecoming of a public official.

Horgan faces up to a $1,000 fine and a public reprimand for the non-criminal ethics violations, but the final decision will come from his fellow members of the county commission at a later date. The ethics panel did not recommend any action to be taken against Horgan.

At his first commission meeting following the arrest, Horgan announced he would not resign from his commission post. That drew persistent criticism from a small band of citizens who demanded he resign because they said they had lost faith in his ability to govern.

Despite the criticism, Horgan technically cannot be removed from office by his fellow commissioners nor the governor because he was not charged with a felony.

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