Talk about a milestone birthday.
Convicted drug mule Leo Sharp was sentenced to three years in federal prison Wednesday — the same day he turned 90.
“I’m really heartbroken I did what I did. But it’s done,” Sharp said, according to the Detroit Free Press. “I won’t live in prison, I’m just going to end my life if I end up there.”
In 2011, the decorated World War II vet was arrested on a Michigan highway after cops discovered over 200 pounds of cocaine worth nearly $3 million in the elderly man’s pickup. Sharp had been running cocaine and cash across the border for several years on behalf of a Mexican drug organization, the Detroit Free Press reported.
US District Judge Nancy Edmunds said the seriousness of Sharp’s crimes warranted that he spend time behind bars — despite his advanced age.
“It’s not a victimless crime,” she said Wednesday. “This is a huge drug operation, and Mr. Sharp was right in the middle of it.”
But Sharp’s lawyer, Darryl Goldberg, tried to convince Edmunds that his client should be kept out of prison, painting him as a decrepit war hero suffering from dementia.
“Mr. Sharp is part of a great generation … before we were even born, he was on top of mountains fighting Nazis,” Goldberg said. “That’s not how we honor our heroes, whether they’ve fallen from grace or not.”
He also claimed that Sharp was “brainwashed” and simply too scared to part ways with violent drug lords.
The government wasn’t having any of it.
“This was not a ‘Whoops, I stumbled into this,’ ” said Assistant US Attorney Christopher Graveline, according to the Free Press. “He is a willing participant.”
Edmunds echoed his statement, adding that she doesn’t want to encourage other drug dealers to hire old geezers for their deliveries.
Sharp will serve three years in prison and spend another three years on supervised release. He also must pay $500,000 to the government and forfeit his Florida property.