PORT ANGELES — While maintaining his innocence, a prominent real estate agent who had been linked to a large cocaine ring has pleaded guilty to three counts of money laundering and had a charge of conspiracy to deliver cocaine dropped.
Paul “P.I.” Pendergrass, 52, said Thursday that dropping the conspiracy to deliver cocaine charge left him feeling somewhat vindicated, but he is still bitter about reports in the Peninsula Daily News that linked him with the nearly dozen individuals implicated in the pending drug case.
Pendergrass said he is innocent of all charges, but agreed to the plea agreement last Friday to spare his family and friends further embarrassment and to clear his name of being involved in the drug case.
“If we fight it we’ll have a long haul ahead of us,” Pendergrass said.
“I don’t know if I would win or lose, but I don’t want my family to go through it.”
Plea agreement
As part of the agreement with prosecutors, Pendergrass said a jury may have found him “reckless” in accepting large sums of money from Bernard Gilbert “Pete” Barnes, who is charged with being the alleged leader of the cocaine ring.
In Pendergrass’ statement in the plea agreement, he admits he should have been “more diligent in trying to find out the source of the cash” he received from Barnes.
Barnes is accused of being a major supplier of cocaine in the Port Angeles area.
For at least two years prior to his 2003 arrest, Barnes allegedly provided cocaine to local dealers and allowed them to pay him back as they sold the cocaine to their customers.
In the agreement, Pendergrass made no agreement to testify against Barnes.
The three charges of money laundering come from three financial transactions he completed with Barnes from April 2001 to November 2003, the documents say.
Pendergrass said that he was friends with Barnes, but knew nothing of the alleged drug ring or any of the other individuals directly implicated.
The first count stems from a $60,000 loan from Barnes that Pendergrass promised in writing to repay.
The second was a $26,000 loan Pendergrass facilitated between Barnes and a couple so that they could purchase a house.
The third count came from about $117,000 he was holding at his house. Pendergrass admitted that some of the cash was Barnes, and he was holding it for him.
Pendergrass maintains that $23,000 of the cash was his.
But Pendergrass said the fight to reclaim the money would be too costly and would drag the process out further.
“This will get it off the front burner and get it off the stove altogether,” he said.
‘You can’t unring a bell’
The negative impact to Pendergrass’ reputation and family continues to linger, he said. His family has been in Port Angeles for decades and he has raised three children in the community.
“You can’t unring a bell,” Pendergrass said, who is an agent for Windermere Real Estate/Port Angeles.
Pendergrass will serve about 28 days in the Clallam County jail and spend two months under electronic home monitoring, said Clallam County Prosecutor Deborah Kelly.
She said she was also satisfied with the agreement.
“It’s a lot more difficult to prove this (money laundering) than to prove someone was conspiring to deliver cocaine,” she said.
Pendergrass does not have any previous criminal convictions.