NATION : Noriega Pilot Pleads Guilty
A pilot who flew cocaine profits to Panama pleaded guilty today to one count of illegally transporting funds, becoming the first person indicted with former Panama dictator Manuel A. Noriega to admit wrongdoing.
But the attorney for Eduardo Pardo, 44, said he did not know if his client would testify against Noriega and the other defendants in the drug conspiracy case. Lawyer William Meadows said there was no plea bargain with the government.
The pilot pleaded guilty to making a flight with $800,000 in drug money from Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., to Panama in 1983. U.S. District Judge William Hoeveler told Pardo he could face up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
Noriega, who is still arguing with prosecutors over their right to prosecute him, is accused of taking payoffs to protect the cocaine trade.
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