~ Assigning a specific reporting date is the responsibility of the prison bureau, an official said

Former state representative Nathan Cooper will receive a few extra days of freedom before he must report to federal prison to begin serving a 15-month term.

Cooper had originally been scheduled to report Thursday to the minimum security prison camp adjoining the U.S. Penitentiary in Marion, Ill. But the prison's spokesman, Tom Werlich, said no prisoners were scheduled to report when the Southeast Missourian called to ask if Cooper had turned himself in.

Cooper will serve 15 months on federal immigration fraud charges. He was sentenced Dec. 10 following his guilty plea entered in August. Cooper, a Republican, was in the middle of his second term as the state House member from Cape Girardeau's 158th District.

Cooper resigned his House seat Aug. 14, setting up a special election on Feb. 5 between Republican Mary Kasten, a former lawmaker seeking a return to office, Democrat Mike Keefe, the former postmaster for Cape Girardeau, and Libertarian Steve Kinder, a pharmacist.

The change in reporting date for Cooper is a purely administrative matter, said assistant federal prosecutor Jim Crowe of St. Louis, who handled the prosecution's case against the former lawmaker. Neither the government nor Cooper's defense counsel have filed any motions that would delay his reporting to prison, Crowe said.

"I expect he will be reporting in the very near future," Crowe said, noting that the specific date is the responsibility of the prison bureau.

Felicia Ponce, a spokeswoman for the bureau, said she could not discuss Cooper's expected entry into the federal prison system. "We are not allowed to reveal where an inmate is supposed to be housed, and we are not allowed to reveal a prisoner's reporting date."

Cooper pleaded guilty to two felonies for helping two trucking companies -- Pullen Bros. of Sikeston, Mo., and CalArk of Little Rock, Ark. -- obtain the services of foreign drivers. Cooper admitted obtaining temporary, seasonal work documents for drivers when the companies had no significant seasonal differences in their demand for employees. He also admitted buying documents intended for hospitality workers and using them for the truck drivers as well as setting up sham companies to hide the true employers of the drivers.

Cooper could not be reached for comment.

rkeller@semissourian.com

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