Although a former Chattanooga City Council member plans to plead guilty to participating in a local cocaine ring, the U.S. attorney’s office is keeping silent on whether the most serious charge against John P. “Duke” Franklin Jr. — money laundering — still stands.

“I have no comment on that,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott Winne said when asked about the details of Mr. Franklin’s plea bargain with the federal government.

The money laundering charge could land Mr. Franklin in a federal prison for a maximum of 20 years. Never charged with a specific drug crime, the former councilman also faces charges of conspiring to obstruct justice and providing false statements to federal officials.

Mr. Franklin’s Defense attorney, Marty Levitt, filed the notice of his client’s intent to plead guilty late Wednesday afternoon, signaling a near-end to Mr. Franklin’s legal wrangling since his arrest in mid-May.

Authorities arrested 42 people during the high-profile drug round-up, accusing them of running or helping to run an operation that had been responsible over the past year and a half for distributing at least 30 kilograms of cocaine a month in Chattanooga.

Mr. Levitt did not return calls Wednesday seeking comment on the terms of the plea agreement, and a court date has not been set for Mr. Franklin to enter his guilty plea before a federal judge. Mr. Franklin and the nine others named on one of five indictments pleaded not guilty during their arraignments in May.

Mr. Franklin resigned his council post in early June as a result of the charges.

Councilman Manny Rico said Wednesday that Mr. Franklin is “not a bad person.”

“He just made some bad choices. I hated it for the council, and I hated it for him,” Mr. Rico said.

Court filings had indicated a vigorous plan of attack against the government’s allegations with regard to Mr. Franklin’s involvement in the drug ring.

According to the indictment, codefendant Michael Kelley needed help concealing the origin of about $70,000 seized during a traffic stop in March by the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Department. Enter Mr. Franklin, who authorities say made arrangements to have a loan document falsified in order to make the money look legitimate and facilitate the return of the cash to his friend.

The FBI, however, already had suspected through months of wire tapping that Mr. Kelley intended to use the money to buy a large amount of cocaine in Atlanta, the indictment states. Mr. Kelley had been working as the drug “runner” for the operation since the beginning of the year, according to court documents. The arrests of all the drug ring’s players would follow in May.

Mr. Levitt sought to have Mr. Franklin’s money-laundering charge dismissed, based in part on a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that narrows the federal money-laundering statute and could make it difficult to prosecute such cases in the future.

Mr. Levitt argued that someone must have actual possession of money in order to be accused of “laundering” it, according to court documents. The money, he said, was in the possession of the sheriff’s department when Mr. Kelley and Mr. Franklin were accused of laundering it.

Fourteen people already have pleaded guilty to their involvement in the drug ring, and another four are scheduled to submit their guilty pleas Friday in court.

Mr. Kelley had not indicated by the deadline late Wednesday his intention to plead guilty, which could mean he plans to address the charges against him at a federal trial.

No trial date has been set.

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