Man accused of Lanark murder was on drug-related probation

MOUNT CARROLL – The Freeport man accused of shooting and killing his wife Dec. 5 in Lanark was about halfway through a 2-year drug-related probation term in Stephenson County, stemming from a 2014 drug case in Tennessee.

Carroll County State’s Attorney Scott Brinkmeier this week furnished records regarding Morgan D. Hake’s criminal past in Tennessee’s Coffee County, which is about an hour drive southeast of Nashville.

Hake, 49, pleaded guilty Oct. 29, 2014, to a “criminal attempt” to possess a controlled substance (Psilocyn) with intent to sell/deliver, and to possession of a controlled substance (marijuana) with intent to sell/deliver, both felonies in Tennessee.

He was fined $2,000, and given 2 years supervised probation, which appears to be below the recommended minimums in Tennessee.

Court records show Hake was charged June 12, 2014, and planned to distribute Psilocyn, a Schedule 1 hallucinogenic drug with compounds typically found in psychedelic mushrooms. Drugs in this top-tier class include heroin and cocaine, among others.

Hake also pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute more than 14.175 grams of marijuana, which exists in a lowered Schedule 6 drug category in Tennessee; it is a Schedule 1 drug in the eyes of the federal government.

The supervised probation case was transferred to Stephenson County in November 2014, about a month after Hake was sentenced, presumably because he was living there at the time of his arrest. Brinkmeier said he does not know where Hake was living at the time.

There is no indication that the circumstances of his arrest in Tennessee were violent.

Hake is in Carroll County Jail on $5 million bond, and Wednesday had a bail reduction hearing continued to 9 a.m. Feb. 25. If convicted, he faces 20 to 60 years in prison, up to life, on six counts of first-degree murder, and felony possession of a weapon, punishable by 2 to 5 years in prison.

Prosecutors say in court records he intended to kill Suzanne M. Hake, 46, while armed with a firearm when he shot her in the head and chest in Lanark. Hake called police and turned himself in, and was arrested without incident in Freeport less than an hour after the shooting.

He has pleaded not guilty.