Metro East legal and political heavyweight Thomas Lakin's release from federal prison on a cocaine-related conviction has been pushed back one year, ostensibly because of his no-contest plea to a state child molestation charge.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons will not comment on specific inmates. But information it posts online shows Lakin's release date moved back to Nov. 30, 2013. That's in keeping with the full 85 percent that federal prisoners normally must serve of their sentences.

Edmond Ross, a bureau spokesman, said projected release dates can be changed for a variety of reasons. Speaking generally, he said a conviction on a sex charge could disqualify someone from receiving a one-year credit for participating in a prison drug program.

Lakin, who once headed the Lakin Law Firm in Wood River and was a big-time Democratic party fundraiser, was sentenced in 2008 to six years in federal prison on drug charges. He was previously set to be freed in November 2012.

In return for Lakin's guilty plea, federal prosecutors dropped their sole sex-related charge, which claimed Lakin took a minor to his second home in Malibu, Calif., with the intent of having oral sex.

In October, Madison County prosecutors finally ended a separate investigation when Lakin did not fight a charge of aggravated criminal sexual abuse involving a 15-year-old boy. As part of that agreement, Lakin will not serve prison time beyond his federal sentence.

Ben Allen, his lawyer, remarked at the time that the state case was merely "housekeeping." Allen didn't respond to requests for comment Tuesday.

Ed Unsell, a lawyer representing the boy, now grown, in a civil lawsuit against Lakin, said the state conviction probably ended the federal early release.

"They said it was housekeeping, but they left behind a lot of dirt," Unsell said.

Lakin continues to serve his term at a low-security federal prison in Fort Worth, Texas.