Courier gets jail time for role in large-scale cocaine ring

A courier involved in a local drug ring was sentenced to four years in County Jail on Wednesday, the result of what San Luis Obispo County Sheriff Ian Parkinson called one of the “largest cocaine arrests in recent history” by a multiagency task force in August.

Half of the 10 San Luis Obispo County residents allegedly involved in the drug trafficking operation have since been convicted and sentenced, having taken plea deals to greatly reduce their time in custody.

Despite the size of the law enforcement operation that led to their arrests — involving seven agencies, nine months of investigation, wiretaps and helicopter surveillance, according to court records — Wednesday’s defendant is the only one prosecuted so far who will spend more than a year in jail.

On Wednesday, Alexander Allan Matarese, 32, of Cayucos, was sentenced by San Luis Obispo Superior Court Judge Donald Umhofer after pleading no contest in October to one felony count of transporting and furnishing a controlled substance, a charge that carries a special criminal enhancement for that controlled substance being more than 1 kilogram of cocaine.

He was facing an additional felony charge of conspiracy, which was dismissed in a deal with prosecutors. Umhofer sentenced him Wednesday to serve a split sentence — four years in jail and four years of post-release mandatory supervision — and with time served and other credits, he will serve just over 14 months in custody, according to court records.

Matarese was allegedly part of a group of 10 county residents indicted by a criminal grand jury for their participation in the trafficking ring that caught the eye of local investigators in November 2014 and involved the sale of cocaine by the kilogram, or about 2.2 pounds. Matarese was the first among the group arrested — about a month prior to local officials serving a series of search warrants that led to the bulk of arrests in the case — when he was pulled over in a traffic stop by a sheriff’s deputy on Highway 41 near Cripple Creek Road in Creston.

According to the Sheriff’s Office, the deputy saw a plastic bag filled with white powder in the center console of the car; Matarese admitted it was cocaine. A K-9 unit was called in to search the car, allegedly finding almost three kilos of packaged cocaine. He was arrested on suspicion of possessing drugs for sale and booked into County Jail.

However, court records reveal the arrest didn’t happen by chance and that Matarese was under surveillance by law enforcement, who knew he was on a return trip from picking up the drugs in Bakersfield. He was released from jail the same night in order to protect the investigation.

In a written declaration in the case, Sheriff’s Office Detective Victor Nunez wrote that following Matarese’s release, the alleged ringleader of the cocaine ring, Chase Michael Hanson, 25, of Morro Bay, began telephoning others that the cocaine had been seized and scheduled another delivery while investigators listened in.

Weeks later, search warrants were served in Morro Bay, Los Osos, Atascadero and Paso Robles, where police allegedly found guns, cocaine and tools used to cut and repackage the drug. Between Aug. 5 and 8, eight people were arrested. Matarese was not found during those searches and was arrested weeks later at an undisclosed home in Cayucos.

Zachary Benjamin Silver, 28, was also named in the indictment but as of Wednesday remained at large.

In his declaration, Nunez wrote that the trafficking organization was large-scale and involved the purchase of packaged cocaine from a man in Bakersfield driving a black Range Rover identified in Nunez’s report only as “The Boss.” In July 2015, detectives used a CHP helicopter to follow members of the group to Bakersfield for a meeting with “The Boss.” Court documents obtained by The Tribune don’t identify “The Boss” or whether he has been charged in the case.

“The (group) is a sophisticated organization utilizing a chain of command and compartmentalizing various components that prevents one component from knowing the identity of other components,” Nunez’s report reads.

Parkinson said during an August news conference that the investigation was a joint effort involving his office, the San Luis Obispo Police Department, the CHP, the District Attorney’s Office, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, the Department of Homeland Security and an undisclosed Irish law enforcement agency. He added that one of the defendants took a trip to Ireland during the investigation.

Since the August searches, five of the 10 indicted in the scheme, including Matarese, have accepted plea bargains with prosecutors and been sentenced.

Jonathan David Byham, 25, of Atascadero, pleaded no contest to felony conspiracy in exchange for prosecutors dismissing a felony charge of possessing drugs for sale. He was sentenced last month to serve a split sentence of two years in County Jail and three years of mandatory supervision, as well as $300 restitution. With time-served, good-conduct and California state law credits, he is scheduled to serve just over six months in jail, according to court records.

In January, Sawyer Scott Sackett, 18, of Paso Robles, pleaded no contest to one count of conspiracy in exchange for the dismissal of charges of possessing drugs for sale and transporting, as well as two criminal enhancements. He was sentenced in January to serve 364 days in jail and five years of probation, and pay $300 in restitution.

Also in January, Johnnie James Medina Jr., 27, of Morro Bay, pleaded no contest to conspiracy for the dismissal of a possession with intent to sell charge and enhancements. He was sentenced to 236 days in jail and three years of formal probation. With his 118 days of time served and other credits, he did not serve any more time in jail.

Jason Vidal Sianez, 27, of Atascadero, also pleaded no contest to conspiracy and was sentenced in December to less than four months in jail and three years of informal probation. With his 57 days served and other credits, Sianez did not serve more time in jail.

Hanson; 26-year old Morro Bay resident Dane James Bennett; Alexander John Getzbouchillon, 23, of Los Osos; and 39-year-old Joseph Arch Messineo, of Atascadero, have each pleaded not guilty to similar charges against them and have hearings in San Luis Obispo Superior Court later this month.

A $1 million arrest warrant remains outstanding for Silver.

This story was originally published March 2, 2016 at 4:50 PM with the headline "Courier gets jail time for role in large-scale cocaine ring."