Former World Cup referee Byron Moreno pleaded guilty Thursday to heroin smuggling charges, the US attorney's office said. Ecuador's Moreno, who is being held without bail, admitted one count of heroin smuggling, spokesman Robert Nardoza said, and faces more than five years in prison under federal sentencing guidelines.
Moreno, 41, gained notoriety after officiating a 2002 World Cup match between Italy and hosts South Korea. Italy were eliminated in extra time, and several controversial calls by Moreno angered Italy, including a debatable penalty to South Korea and the sending off of Francesco Totti with a second yellow card for diving.
In September 2002, Ecuadorean football officials suspended Moreno for 20 games after he added a dozen minutes of stoppage time to a match between two domestic clubs without properly recording it. He was suspended again the following year and shortly thereafter resigned. Moreno was arrested last September at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport after arriving on a commercial flight from Ecuador with bags of heroin attached to his body, US prosecutors said.