Prison Arrests Halt Marijuana, Cocaine Dealing

Authorities at the California Men’s Colony smashed a major drug ring involving 30 inmates dealing in cocaine and marijuana, the warden said Sunday.

The 18-month investigation uncovered what published reports called the largest illegal drug operation in the 35-year history of the minimum-to-medium security prison.

“We have documented proof of $30,000 worth of (drug) transactions between January, 1987, and July, 1988,” Lt. Robert Osborn of the prison’s Investigative Unit told the San Luis Obispo Telegram-Tribune.

“In other prisons, that ($30,000 in drug sales) would be peanuts. For us, it was quite an unusual foray,” Warden Wayne Estelle said.

Officials have not divulged how inmates were able to bring the cocaine and marijuana into the prison. Two unidentified people outside the prison were suspected of helping smuggle the drugs, but they have not been charged.

Payment was handled through transfers between inmates’ outside bank accounts, Estelle said.

Inmate Fidencio (Paylone) Rodriguez, 34, told the newspaper that he was “more or less the head person” in the drug ring, which allegedly involved up to 30 inmates.

Rodriguez, a former heroin addict, claimed he carried as much as $5,000 with him from his drug dealing.

“Evidence against him (Rodriguez) for dealing is considerable,” Estelle said. “But I would question his veracity as much as I would anybody who deals in drugs.”

Discipline of inmates allegedly involved in the ring began in May, 1988, with 15 prisoners transferred to solitary confinement, officials said. Others have received different discipline.