Former City Councilman John P. “Duke” Franklin Jr. has filed this afternoon his notice of intent to plead guilty to federal criminal charges that he helped launder thousands of dollars in drug money and then lied about it to investigators.

No details of Mr. Franklin’s plea agreement with the government have been released, and a date to actually plead guilty in court has not been set.

Mr. Franklin resigned his City Council position in early June after being arrested with 41 others in mid-May on accusations that they either ran or helped to run a local drug ring worth more than $1 million.

Mr. Franklin and his codefendants pleaded not guilty to the charges at their first court appearances in May. At a subsequent court appearance, one of Mr. Franklin’s attorneys told the Times Free Press that the former city councilman would be ready to take the matter all the way to trial.

Mr. Franklin is charged with money laundering, obstruction of justice and lying to federal officials. Authorities say he helped codefendant Michael Kelley in March hide the origin of about $70,000 by arranging to have a loan document for Mr. Kelley falsified.

Mr. Franklin faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in a federal prison on the money laundering charge alone.

For complete details, see tomorrow’s Chattanooga Times Free Press.

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