North County

Two local men have pleaded guilty to federal currency, tax-evasion and drug charges and will be sentenced to lengthy prison sentences, after forfeiting millions of dollars in assets to U.S. authorities.

William Joe Richards, 38, of Rancho Santa Fe, and Thomas J. Gaglia, 43, of Leucadia pleaded guilty Thursday in U.S. District Court to the charges. Under a plea bargain negotiated with the U.S. attorney’s office in San Diego, Richards will be sentenced to 22 1/2 years in federal prison, and Gaglia will serve 13 1/2 years.

They will be sentenced March 4 by U.S. District Judge Rudi Brewster.

The pair’s criminal activities were found to be part of a continuing criminal enterprise, which calls for stiff sentences. In addition, the government seized an undetermined amount of assets that Richards obtained as a result of drug trafficking. Previously, U.S. officials had seized about $4 million in real estate owned by Richards.

According to Assistant U.S. Atty. Stephen Peterson, the government seized three houses Richards owned in the San Diego area, including a home in Rancho Santa Fe that the government sold for more than $2 million. Also seized were five unimproved lots and a macadamia nut farm that Richards owned in Texas and North County respectively.

Both men face additional charges in U.S District Court in Los Angeles, where they were arrested July 19, 1989, while fugitives in the San Diego case. At the time of their arrest by U.S. Customs agents, Richards and Gaglia were in possession of 6,700 pounds of Thai marijuana, said a report issued by federal prosecutors in San Diego.

Peterson said that Richards operated a drug smuggling ring, with Gaglia as his assistant.