WASHINGTON — Florida Congressman Henry “Trey” Radel pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of possession of cocaine in D.C. Superior Court on Wednesday, Nov. 20, and was sentenced to one year of probation.

Radel, 37, a Republican who was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives last year with the backing of the conservative Tea Party movement, was charged after buying 3.5 grams of cocaine in Washington’s Dupont Circle neighborhood on October 29 in the presence of an undercover agent, the government said.

Radel.

“Your honor, I apologize for what I’ve done,” Radel told Judge Robert Tignor during the sentencing hearing. In an earlier statement, Radel said his “struggles with alcoholism” had led him to make an “extremely irresponsible choice.”

“I am so sorry to be here. I know I have let my constituents down, my country down and, most importantly, my family, including my wife and my 2-year-old, who doesn’t know it yet,” Radel told Tignor in court. Radel added that he would enter a drug treatment program in Florida.

After his court appearance, Radel did not respond to reporters’ shouted questions about whether he intended to resign from the House of Representatives.

The case against Radel stemmed from an investigation by Federal Bureau of Investigation and Drug Enforcement Administration agents into cocaine trafficking in the Washington area, Assistant U.S. Attorney Nihar Mohanty said.

“Today’s guilty plea emerges from a broader narcotics investigation that brought to light information that a sitting member of Congress was routinely using and buying cocaine,” U.S. Attorney Ronald Machen Jr. said in a statement.

Court papers indicate that Radel, who has described himself on Twitter as a “hip-hop conservative,” met an acquaintance and the undercover officer at a Dupont Circle restaurant at 10 p.m. on October 29. Radel told the pair that he had cocaine in his apartment, the court documents say, and he invited them to the apartment to share the drug.

They declined, and the undercover agent offered to sell Radel more cocaine, the papers say. Radel agreed and gave them $260. After they retrieved the cocaine from the acquaintance’s vehicle, Radel was approached by officers and dropped the cocaine on the ground. He then invited them to his apartment and surrendered another vial of cocaine, the court papers say.