8 months jail time after no contest pleas in meth-laced-mail smuggling case
Peweli Pinkston, 27, (left) and Jean Stoller, 37, were both sentenced to eight months in jail after pleading no contest to felony charges of allegedly smuggling methamphetamine-laced mail into San Mateo County's Maple Street Correctional Facility.
OAKLAND, Calif. (BCN) - Two people who pleaded no contest to felony charges after allegedly smuggling methamphetamine-laced mail into San Mateo County's Maple Street Correctional Facility were sentenced to an additional eight months of jail time Tuesday, according to prosecutors.
Ten people were accused of the crime in late December after a month-long investigation into numerous letters and cards that had been intercepted by jail staff as early as Oct. 13.
Investigators determined that the suspects had been dipping the correspondence into liquefied meth before sending it into the jail.
They served a series of search warrants in Burlingame, Daly City and San Francisco Dec. 22, seizing cash and more than 10 ounces of meth.
Peweli Pinkston, 27, and Jean Stoller, 37, were both sentenced to eight months in jail.
Pinkston will receive no credit for time served, and the additional sentence will run concurrently with the five years he's already serving on a robbery conviction. Stoller was also sentenced to eight months, but he'll receive 504 days credit for time already served.
Both defendants were in custody on $25,000 bail as of Tuesday.
Although Pinkston and Stoller pleaded no contest Tuesday, there are still several other co-defendants listed on their case. Bridgette Rabeka Damon, Rhiannon Lawler, Sara Semana Regan and Richard Francis Wood are scheduled to return to court on Sept. 20 for a two-day preliminary hearing.
Defense attorneys Mark Comperi and Justin Goodwin, for Pinkston and Stoller, respectively, were not immediately available to comment on their clients' behalf.