World War II veteran Leo Sharp turned 90 on Wednesday, the same day a federal judge sentenced him to three years in prison for being a drug mule for dealers in Mexico.
Sharp, of Michigan City, Indiana, was found guilty of driving more than a ton of cocaine into Michigan for a Mexican drug organization, the Associated Press reported. Sharp admitted last year that he worked for the organization, for which he was paid more than $1 million, according to investigators.
"All I can tell you, your honor, is I'm really heartbroken I did what I did," Sharp told U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds, the AP reported. "But it's done."
Sharp was busted for transporting the drugs during a traffic stop near Detroit on Interstate 94 in 2011. Prosecutors said Sharp, who received a Bronze Star for fighting Nazis in Italy during World War II, used his age to avoid suspicions from the police.
"They bargained on him not getting caught," Edmunds said according to the AP.
Darryl Goldberg, Sharp's attorney, attributed his client's crime to dementia and "bad judgment." He also asked for no prison time, saying Sharp's dementia would burden the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, the AP reported.
Edmunds said using Sharp's dementia as an excuse was an "insult to all the people who have dementia and don't get involved in illegal activity," according to the AP.
Nineteen other people have been charged in connection to the drug case. Prosecutors originally sought a 5-year sentence for Sharp, a far cry from the minimum 14 years for the charges he faced. Yet the judge spared Sharp both sentences.
"I don't doubt it will be difficult," the judge told Sharp about the three years he is to spend behind bars, the AP reported. "But respect for the law requires there be some custody."
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