Elderly drug mule admits deeds.

 Elderly drug mule admits deeds.

An 89-year-old Indiana man faces time in a federal prison after pleading guilty to transporting more than 1,400 pounds of cocaine.

Leo Sharp of Michigan City, Ind., is one of the oldest criminal defendants to ever appear in Detroit's federal court. He told the judge Tuesday that he had never before committed a crime and that he worked for drug dealers because he needed money.

Sharp was 87 in 2011 when a Michigan state trooper stopped his pickup truck on Interstate 94, west of Detroit, and subsequently arrested him on drug charges.

That delivery of more than 200 pounds of cocaine wasn't Sharp's first go-around, however. He admitted that in recent years he was responsible for transporting more than 1,400 pounds of drugs that originated in Arizona. 

U.S. Assistant Attorney Christopher Graveline has asked that Sharp, who is hard of hearing, be sentenced to five years in a Minnesota prison with medical facilities because of his age and World War II service. That's a significant break because sentencing guidelines, which aren't mandatory, call for a minimum of 14 years.

Sharp, who earned a Bronze Star while in the Army, also must forfeit $500,000 in property owned in Florida in the deal.

Defense attorney Darryl Goldberg said he will ask for less than five years when Sharp returns to court for sentencing on Feb. 11.