'Brad from Raleigh,' witness in Michael Peterson murder trial, pleads to fraud

Another chapter in the saga of an infamous 2003 Michael Peterson murder trial came to an end Thursday with a plea agreement in a Wake County courtroom.

A witness in the trial, Brent Wolgamott, 30, once known as "Brad from Raleigh," pleaded guilty to three counts of misdemeanor obtaining a controlled substance by fraud and one misdemeanor count of attempting to obtain a controlled substance by fraud.

Wolgamott was charged in October 2003 with five counts of obtaining controlled substances by fraud. He is alleged to have misrepresented himself as a dentist to obtain painkillers at area pharmacies while he was a student at N.C. State University.

In exchange for his 2003 testimony against Peterson -- the Durham novelist convicted of murdering his wife -- Wolgamott received an immunity deal. Prosecutors suggested Kathleen Peterson might have been killed in December 2001 after finding an email exchange between her husband and Wolgamott arranging to meet for sex for $150 an hour. Wolgamott offered his services over the Internet under the moniker "Brad from Raleigh."

In connection with the plea agreement reached Thursday, two of the four misdemeanor counts were dismissed by Wake Senior Resident Superior Court Judge Donald W. Stephens, who sentenced Wolgamott to a 45-day suspended jail sentence and 18 months of probation.

This story was originally published March 18, 2005 at 12:00 AM with the headline "'Brad from Raleigh,' witness in Michael Peterson murder trial, pleads to fraud."