John Chong-Hun Choe (Photo by a Yelp reviewer)
TACOMA, Wash. (AP) — The owner of a Puyallup bar has pleaded guilty to a federal charge that he sold drugs from the establishment.
John Chong-Hun Choe ran Johnny’s Bar and Grill. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for western Washington says that early this year, he sold cocaine four times to a police informant.
He also admitted selling meth, heroin and other drugs. The state suspended the bar’s liquor license in June.
Choe pleaded guilty on Sept. 6 in U.S. District Court in Seattle to possessing methamphetamine with intent to distribute. The crime can carry a five-year mandatory minimum sentence, but prosecutors have agreed to apply a “safety valve” provision in federal law that allows for lesser sentences for nonviolent drug offenders with little or no criminal history.
Judge Benjamin H. Settle scheduled sentencing for Dec. 16.