Former Judge Sentenced in Drug-Sales Plot

A former Orange County Municipal Court judge has been sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison for his role in a plot to sell large amounts of cocaine to federal undercover officers.

Alan A. Plaia, 48, who served on the bench from 1979 to 1983, was indicted in September on three felony charges of drug trafficking and conspiracy. Shortly after his indictment, he jumped bail and fled to Montana, where authorities later found him at a luxury dude ranch near Bozeman. He was known there by the name Uncle Al.

Plaia pleaded guilty in December to one count of conspiracy to distribute cocaine, which carries a sentence of five to 40 years in prison and a $2-million fine.

On Monday, however, U.S. District Judge Ronald W. Lew gave Plaia a 3 1/2-year term because he cooperated with the government in the prosecutions of two accomplices, David Nicol of Surfside and Grisha Moradian of Costa Mesa. Both have pleaded guilty to various drug counts and face sentencing later this year.

Plaia practiced law in Newport Beach for 10 years before then-Gov. Edmund G. (Jerry) Brown Jr. appointed him to Municipal Court in September, 1979. He resigned in 1983 to resume his law practice but occasionally filled in as a temporary judge until 1989, when he opened a jewelry store in Corona del Mar.

According to their indictment, Plaia, Moradian and Nicol were trying to establish a large-scale smuggling operation in 1989 and 1990. During that effort, they tried to sell a kilogram of cocaine to undercover agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration.