Ex-Executive at Charter Pleads Guilty

The former chief operating officer of cable television company Charter Communications Inc. pleaded guilty in St. Louis on Thursday to a charge that he conspired to defraud investors by inflating subscriber numbers, a federal prosecutor said.

David Barford, 46, is scheduled to be sentenced March 11 for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and could face up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. He has agreed to testify in the trial of two other former executives, U.S. Attorney James Martin said. As part of a plea accord, 13 other counts were dismissed.

“We made a decision that we felt was in the best interest of everyone ... and chose not to proceed to trial,” Barford’s attorney, Art Margulis, said.

Barford was one of four Charter executives accused in a July 2003 federal indictment.

Prosecutors have said that neither the company nor its directors are targets of the probe, a Charter spokesman said.