Seattle pizza shop owner guilty in smuggling case

The owner of a Seattle pizza shop and a historic theater in Bend, Ore., pleaded guilty Friday to charges that he imported thousands of pounds of marijuana into the United States from Canada, much of it by helicopter.

David R. Mendoza, 44 - known to some of his Canadian associates as "Mr. Brown" - will face 14 years in prison under terms of the plea agreement when he is sentenced in September. Either Mendoza or the government can withdraw from the agreement if the judge varies from the 14-year sentence.

Mendoza has owned Pazzo's Restaurant in Seattle's Eastlake neighborhood since 1998 and the Liberty Theater in Bend, built in 1917, since 2002. He grew up in Seattle's affluent gated community of Broadmoor and was class president at Garfield High School before graduating from the University of Washington in 1989.

According to his plea agreement, Mendoza was a large-scale transporter of marijuana from 2001 through 2006. He admitted he was behind a 400-pound shipment hidden under coffee grounds within a load of lumber that came across the border at Blaine in 2003, as well as several shipments by helicopter in 2005-06. Once the dope was south of the border, Mendoza shipped it throughout the country.

U.S. authorities seized more than 2,000 pounds of marijuana that Mendoza imported. One former Canadian associate told The Associated Press that amount was a tiny fraction of the dope Mendoza moved, and that before his indictment, no one else was bringing more British Columbia marijuana into the U.S.

The associate, who has not publicly been linked to the case, requested anonymity because of his own involvement in criminal activity.

"He was the type of guy where you could drop a thousands pounds off and it would be gone the same day," the associate said. "I'd say he's missed."

Several of Mendoza's coconspirators, including his ex-girlfriend, pilot and some of his drivers, cooperated with U.S. authorities, the plea agreement said.

Mendoza was indicted in late 2006 and was extradited from Spain in April.

He was convicted of cocaine possession in 1990 and conspiracy to distribute hashish and cocaine in 1993.

As part of the plea, Mendoza agreed to turn over to the government four properties he bought with drug profits, including the Liberty Theater, which he bought for $745,000 in 2002.