Man pleads guilty to selling Patriots lineman drugs

A Saugus man yesterday pleaded guilty in federal court to charges that he sold New England Patriots lineman Nick Kaczur about 300 OxyContin pills.

Daniel Ekasala, 35, entered a guilty plea to charges that were based on three transactions between the two that were secretly recorded by the US Drug Enforcement Administration in May.

Kaczur is not named in court records in Ekasala's case, but has been identified as the cooperating witness by Ekasala's defense attorney, Bernard Grossberg of Boston, and two sources briefed on the case.

Kaczur went undercover for the federal antidrug agency after he was stopped for speeding on the New York State Thruway on April 27 while carrying 202 OxyContin pills, according to New York State Police reports.

At the time, Kaczur was returning to Massachusetts from his hometown of Brantford, in Ontario, Canada. The drugs found on him that day aren't part of the case against Ekasala.

Kaczur returned to a New York courtroom in July, where misdemeanor charges of drug possession were put on hold, provided the lineman stays out of trouble for six months.

In May, Kaczur met Ekasala three times at different locations - in Foxborough, North Attleboro Attleborough, and Sharon - each time handing over $3,900 in marked $100 bills to Ekasala and getting 100 OxyContin pills in return, according to court records and testimony in court yesterday.

Grossberg asked US District Judge William G. Young to stay Ekasala's sentence for several weeks so his client can complete a union training course, but the judge refused. Ekasala is to be sentenced in December and faces up to 57 months in federal prison.