Four Franklin County men admitted Friday to playing a role in a moonshine operation that produced thousands of gallons of illegal liquor that made its way as far north as Philadelphia.

The men were arrested last year after surveillance cameras set up by federal agents caught them coming and going from a still site in Halifax County, where four 1,200-gallon pots were being put to work.

Appearing in U.S. District Court in Roanoke, the defendants accepted plea agreements and will be sentenced later. As part of his standard questions, Judge James Turk asked each man to explain in his own words what he did to make him guilty.

"I put the land in my name," said Danny Walter Davis, who was convicted of conspiracy and money laundering.

"I went down there and made the liquor," said John David Fralin, convicted of conspiracy and producing untaxed liquor.

"I was a still hand," said Terry Lynn Smith, convicted of the same charges.

The fourth defendant, 66-year-old Jarman Johnson, was so hard of hearing that he had to stand just a few feet from the judge. At a loss for words, Johnson admitted after some prompting that he was a still hand, too.

Two more defendants in the case, Jody Alton Smith of Franklin County and Margaret Rigney Smith of Pittsylvania County, are scheduled to go on trial Monday in federal court.

In summarizing the evidence, Assistant U.S. Attorney Sharon Burnham said the still site produced "thousands and thousands" of gallons of moonshine. She declined to give an exact amount after the hearing, citing the upcoming trial for the two Smiths, who she said are not related.

A grand jury indictment gives some hint of the operation's scope, noting that on May 12, 2006, investigators found 1,726 one-gallon jugs, 600 pounds of sugar, 50 pounds of barley and 125 empty bags that each once held 100 pounds of sugar, a key ingredient in moonshine.

According to the indictment, the untaxed liquor was distributed throughout Virginia and to other areas such as Philadelphia.

The investigation began when federal agents learned of the site, which the operators had equipped with surveillance cameras.

Unknown to the defendants, authorities installed their own hidden cameras to catch them coming and going from the stills.