Meet the Federal Judge Who (Allegedly) Bought Coke from a Stripper

Senior U.S. District Judge Jack T. Camp Jr.
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This is Senior U.S. District Judge Jack T. Camp Jr., former chief judge of the U.S. District Court in Atlanta. He just got arrested for buying coke, weed, and prescription painkillers. From a stripper.

Judges! When they fall, they fall hard. Camp, a Reagan appointee, had apparently been involved with his exotic dancer friend since the spring, when he purchased a private dance from her. It must have been a pretty good dance, because he came back the next night and bought another dance, and then sex.

Then again, this is Atlanta, so sex with strippers is kind of par for the course. What’s a little more salacious is the drugs: The relationship between the stripper and 67-year-old judge apparently “revolved around drugs and sex,” mostly cocaine, marijuana, and the prescription painkiller Roxicodone. Sometimes Camp would give money to the stripper for the drugs; sometimes, the two lovebirds would buy the drugs together.

Unfortunately for Camp, the exotic dancer was recording many of their conversations and feeding the information to the FBI:

Last Friday, in recorded telephone conversation, Camp told the stripper he would try to help her because she was having trouble getting a job with her record. The judge offered to talk to a potential employer if necessary, according to the affidavit. During the conversation, the two of them discussed having a second woman join them night but Camp at least initially thought it too risky to do drugs with someone he didn’t trust because he said his “situation was precarious.”

Later Friday, the stripper asked Camp if he could follow her to a drug deal to protect her because she was dealing with a dealer she did not know well. According to the affidavit, Camp responded: “I’ll watch your back anytime….I not only have my little pistol, I’ve got my big pistol so, uh, we’ll take care of any problems that come up.”

Camp was arrested that night, after buying drugs in “the parking lot of the Velvet Room on Chamblee Tucker Road,” which couldn’t sound more Atlanta if you made it up.
The judge had a reputation as a harsh sentencer. He also owned a 19th century farmhouse and 175-acre farm, and was known to quote Shakespeare from the bench. “It’s almost like a Shakespearean tragedy,” said Atlanta defense attorney Jack Martin. Almost! But, not quite.

[Atlanta Journal-Constitution; pic via AP]

The original version of the story appears here: http://gawker.com/5655666/meet-the-federal-judge-who-allegedly-bought-coke-from-a-stripper

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