Former coach moving toward federal trial
Bill Utterback Calkins Media
PITTSBURGH — A former Beaver Falls High School coach decided against entering a guilty plea this week and received a November trial date in federal court.
Carlos Cleckley, 36, spent 80 minutes before Judge Alan N. Bloch in a change-of-plea hearing Tuesday in Pittsburgh but chose not to enter a plea, according to court documents. The hearing had been continued from Sept. 17 at Cleckley's request.
Facing seven cocaine-related charges, Cleckley will go on trial at 9:30 a.m. on Nov. 26.
Cleckley, a Beaver Falls varsity football and basketball assistant until his arrest in December 2011, was one of four men indicted by a federal grand jury in a cocaine operation with roots in Texas and Beaver Falls.
Cleckley has been charged with one count of conspiracy to distribute cocaine, five counts of possession with intent to distribute, and one count of possession with intent to distribute more than 28 grams of cocaine.
According to documents filed by federal prosecutors, the conspiracy charge carries a penalty of 10 years to life in federal prison. The distribution of more than 28 grams charge carries a penalty of five to 40 years. The distribution charges carry no minimum sentence and a maximum of 20 years.
Adrian Taylor of Beaver Falls and Vincent Middlewoods of Texas pleaded guilty to conspiracy and one count of distribution earlier this year. They have not yet been sentenced.