Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe MICHIGAN CITY, Ind., April 30 (UPI) -- An 89-year-old World War II veteran will be sentenced on his 90th birthday in Detroit federal court after allegedly transporting more than 1,000 pounds of cocaine across the country. Leo Sharp of Michigan City, Ind., was caught with more than 200 pounds of cocaine on Interstate 94 in 2011, and prosecutors determined that it was not his first time transporting the drug across the U.S. while serving as a mule for an Arizona drug ring. Advertisement Sharp, who pleaded guilty last fall, is set to be sentenced on May 7. The veteran’s attorney, Darryl Goldberg, is hopeful that his client will be sentenced to home confinement because of his age and health. “He is a colorful, self-made, charitable man who has worked hard throughout this entire admirable, extraordinary, and long life,” Goldberg wrote in a court memo. “Mr. Sharp made a monumental mistake at a moment of perceived financial weakness, and was exploited and threatened, but his conduct in this case was truly an aberration from a law-abiding life.” Goldberg also noted that Sharp was awarded the Bronze Star for his service. Advertisement Prosecutors are believed to be seeking a five-year sentence. Read More Police: Couple who jumped from George Washington Bridge had killed woman's uncle U.S., Britain accused of operating 'secret prisons' in Afghanistan U.S. economy grows at a glacial 0.1 percent Second suspect charged with murder of missing Tennessee nursing student Michelangelo's 'David' ready to fall, researchers say
