Struthers man pleads guilty to cocaine trafficking charges

YOUNGSTOWN — A drug dealer at the former Riverbend Tavern on Poland Avenue has pleaded guilty as charged to nine counts of cocaine trafficking and one count of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity.

Robert Pagan, 41, of Parkcliff Avenue, Struthers, entered his plea today before Judge Maureen A. Sweeney of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, who will sentence him at 2 p.m. Oct. 6.

Martin P. Desmond, an assistant county prosecutor, recommended a 31⁄2-year prison term for Pagan.

In May, Judge R. Scott Krichbaum sentenced Pagan’s co-defendant, John Messer, who owned the bar, to 41⁄2 years in prison.

Messer, 59, of Raccoon Road, Austintown, pleaded guilty to 17 counts of drug trafficking at the bar, which was closed and boarded up as a public nuisance when police raided the establishment last Nov. 5.

Messer bought drugs and gave them to Pagan to sell at the bar, Desmond said.