The 38-year-old man found dead at the Four Seasons Hotel on Sunday may have checked in for a weekend of partying that turned fatal after a drug overdose.

Police sources familiar with the investigation yesterday said it was likely the man, identified as Patrick McGill, who nearly a decade ago racked up multiple criminal charges for drugs and public intoxication, died after using cocaine and possibly other drugs. A spokeswoman for the Medical Examiner’s Office said autopsy results were pending, and further toxicology screening and tissue testing would be done this week.

McGill was found unconscious in side his 40th-floor luxury suite at the Four Seasons on East 57th Street early Sunday morning. Hotel staff alerted police around 8:30 a.m. after a friend, reportedly also a hotel guest, notified staff that McGill was missing, police said.

Hotel staff said they had no knowledge of McGill’s activities the night before he was found dead. A hotel manager, Christoph Schmidinger, said the hotel’s drug policy takes effect “if they are disturbing other customers, or if they represent a safety hazard to staff members or other guests.” McGill did not attract attention or cause complaints, Mr. Schmidinger said.

Although McGill was staying at the Four Seasons when he died, he had relocated to New York from San Diego three weeks ago to start a new job, his father, Carl McGill, said. Mr. McGill, who was making travel arrangements to fly to New York today, said his son was a graphic designer and artist who was not college-trained, but taught by “the school of hard knocks.”

Indeed, McGill had an extensive criminal history in Utah, where he reportedly lived until 1998. His court records, including a dozen civil and criminal citations, date back to 1988, when he pleaded guilty to possession of a controlled substance and was fined $50. Other convictions include a 1995 guilty plea for public intoxication and a 1996 guilty plea for illegal possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia. Other charges for drunk driving and driving with a suspended license in 1995 were dismissed.

He apparently cleaned up his act by 1998, when he starting working at the Official College Sports Network, an online magazine for college sports. According to a spokesman for CSTV Networks, a CBS-affiliated company that acquired the Official College Sports Network in 2004, McGill was the production manager of the company’s Carlsbad, Calif., office prior to being recruited to the New York City office, where he worked as the senior director of online production.

“Patrick was a wonderful person and tremendously talented. He will be greatly missed,” the spokesman said.