A federal judge on Tuesday sentenced a nightclub owner who tried to sell cocaine to save his failing Strip District business to four years in prison.
Jason Perla, 33, who has operated the DejAVu Lounge on Penn Avenue since 1999, asked for leniency because he is likely to lose the business while serving time. U.S. District Judge Nora Barry Fischer rejected his request, but she set his prison time at a little less than the recommended sentence of 57 to 71 months.
The 48 months the Braddock Hills man received comes on top of the seven months he already spent on house arrest.
"I realize what I did was a stupid mistake," Perla said in U.S. District Court, Downtown. "I thought it would be a quick fix to the financial problems I was having."
In February, state police and federal agents intercepted a shipment of cocaine hidden in a truck en route to Pittsburgh from Texas. They set up a sting after the driver told investigators he was delivering the drugs to Perla, according to court records.
Perla later was arrested and charged with conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance. Investigators first indicated they seized 7 kilograms of cocaine but later reduced that to less than 5 kilograms.
DejAVu is on the verge of collapse, Gary Zimmerman, Perla's attorney, wrote in court documents. Zimmerman said his client "succumbed to the politics of contraband in order to save his failing business" and "realizes it was foolish to attempt to save his business by engaging in a cocaine deal."
Assistant U.S. Attorney Tina Miller argued against leniency, saying the business was "already in a downward spiral."
Zimmerman persuaded Fischer to take into consideration the life Perla led until his ill-fated decision. The judge noted that she received 18 letters on Perla's behalf and that he was active in Pittsburgh's business community and contributed to several charities.
Among the letters was one from Perla's father, Anthony "Tony" Perla, who served time in the 1980s for helping orchestrate a point-shaving scam involving the Boston College men's basketball team.
"I realize so much how positive, productive, legal activity can form a person's lifestyle to be a better person in society," Tony Perla wrote.
John Suiter, retired Braddock Hills police chief, urged the judge to sentence Perla to time served on house arrest.
"I don't believe that today's society would benefit from sending Jason Perla to jail and that a prison sentence could be financially detrimental to his family, employees and all those directly or indirectly impacted by his businesses," Suiter wrote.
