Former Judge Pleads Guilty to Drug Charge

A former Orange County Municipal Court judge pleaded guilty in Los Angeles Friday to a drug conspiracy charge stemming from an alleged plot to sell large amounts of cocaine to federal undercover agents.

Alan A. Plaia, 48, who has agreed to cooperate in the prosecution of two suspected accomplices, entered his plea, to a single count of conspiracy to distribute cocaine, during a half-hour proceeding before U.S. District Court Judge Ronald Lew. The charge carries a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison and a maximum penalty of 40 years in custody and a $2 million fine.

Plaia, who remains in federal detention, is scheduled to be sentenced March 23.

“I’d say it’s the end of a long and sad story of cocaine addiction for this former Orange County judge,” said Ralph Lochridge, a spokesman for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. “The message of this case is that cocaine can affect not only inner-city youth but people who have had every advantage in life.”