Valerijs N. Belovs, 55, of the 7900 block of Algon Avenue, also agreed to testify against the owner of the 18-wheeler whose defective brakes led to the wreck, and the garage owner who failed to inspect the truck.

Belovs had been hauling a load of broccoli from California to Philadelphia on bad brakes when he came upon morning rush-hour traffic just east of the Conshohocken curve. He couldn't stop his truck, which hit five vehicles and killed the driver of one, David Schreffler, 49, of Fort Washington.

The Latvian native spoke through a Russian interpreter to plead guilty in Schreffler's death as well as to five counts of reckless endangerment.

Prosecutors did not offer a specific recommendation for the prison sentence that Belovs could face, and no sentencing date has been set, defense attorney Damien D. Brewster said.

Belovs' bail, originally put at $350,000 after the crash, was reduced to $10,000. Montgomery County Court Judge William R. Carpenter required him to wear a GPS bracelet if bond was posted.

Trial dates have not been set for truck owner Victor M. Kalinitchii, 40, of Warminster, who posted a $65,000 bond in March, or garage owner Joseph Jadczak Jr., 61, of Milton, Del. Each also faces a vehicular-homicide charge and other counts.

Kalinitchii allegedly told Belovs to continue trucking cross-country without repairing the brakes, and Jadczak allegedly sold a $200 inspection sticker for the truck without inspecting it.

Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman in March called the unrepaired truck "a 74,000-pound death machine that was careening across the highways of this country."

Belovs, who now is forbidden to drive commercial vehicles, had not posted bail as of late yesterday afternoon, according to Montgomery County Correctional Facility records.