May 24, 2002 By Jennifer Harr 2 min read

A North Carolina man who claimed he could speak no English entered a guilty plea to delivering nearly one kilo of cocaine to undercover members of the Fayette County Drug Task Force. A translator breached the language barrier between Spanish-speaking Agustin Chable Moheno and Judge John F. Wagner Jr. during the Thursday plea. For his guilty pleas to possession and possession with intent to deliver drugs, Moheno will serve four to eight years in a state prison.

As Wagner went through the plea form that indicated Moheno, 26, agreed to plead guilty, Moheno often answered the jurist’s questions before they were translated for him.

“Why are you answering me now without her help?” questioned Wagner.

Public Defender Jeffrey Whiteko indicated that Moheno, of Mexican descent, understood a little English.

After the plea proceedings, District Attorney Nancy D. Vernon said the inability to speak English was a farce.

“He made the arrangements to meet our undercover officers and talked about partying with them (the day of the bust),” said Vernon.

When it came time to make a statement after his Jan. 13, 2001, arrest, Vernon said Moheno claimed he couldn’t speak English.

Connellsville Police Cpl. Ronald J. Haggerty Jr. charged Moheno after he tried to sell 990 grams of cocaine, just shy of one kilo, for $28,000. A kilogram is 2.2 pounds.

At the time of the exchange, Moheno was in a parked car in the lot of the Holiday Inn along Route 40 in South Union Township.

Moheno, via his translator, told Wagner that the car was not his and admitted that he did know the cocaine was inside the vehicle.

Wagner scheduled Moheno’s sentencing for June 3.