Deputies Foil Man’s Plan to Have Stand-In Do His Time : Castaic: The scheme unravels with the organizer’s arrest on drug-possession charges while visiting the jail.

Wilfred Bernard Genus was supposed to go to jail, but he only wanted to visit. Now, he’s back to stay.

Genus and Albert Flowers, a homeless Los Angeles man, were arraigned Wednesday in an alleged conspiracy in which Flowers tried to serve Genus’ 15-day jail sentence at the Pitchess Honor Rancho in Castaic last week.

The scheme was uncovered when Genus, 20, was arrested Sunday for possessing cocaine while trying to visit the very same jail, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department officials said.

“No, Genus is not much of a genius,” Deputy Gabe Ramirez said.

Genus of Los Angeles was supposed to have turned himself in Jan. 13 for a conviction of concealing a firearm, Ramirez said, but instead persuaded Flowers, 32, to take his place. Neither Ramirez nor other detectives said they were sure why Flowers agreed to do so.

On Sunday, Genus and three others went to the jail where Flowers was being held to visit another prisoner, Ramirez said. During a random search of visitors’ vehicles as they entered the parking lot, deputies spotted 21 small, clear packets of rock cocaine next to Genus in the driver’s seat of the van, Ramirez said.

When Genus was arrested, he first gave deputies a false name, Ramirez said, but later admitted his real name and that he was supposed to be in custody all along. Genus was also held for possession of a loaded .380-caliber automatic pistol.

Arrested with Genus was Philip Andrews, 24, of Los Angeles for allegedly possessing cocaine for sale, Ramirez said.

Detective S. C. Underdown said it is still unclear how Flowers and Genus managed to pull off the switch, saying that “it would be an unusual set of circumstances under which this could happen, but it can happen.”

“If you’ve never been arrested and your fingerprints are not on file, and when you are charged with this crime you are not fingerprinted, which can happen, then anybody who has not been arrested can take your place,” Underdown said.

Flowers could have gotten away with the scheme, Underdown said, if Genus had taken care not to be rearrested.

“Yeah, pretty stupid. We get that all the time,” Underdown said. “People come to the jail in stolen vehicles or they have guns in their trunk that they forgot were there, all kinds of stuff.”

Now, Genus not only will have to serve his original 15-day sentence but has exposed himself to an additional year in prison for the conspiracy.

As for Flowers, he will probably get more time in jail than he had bargained for, deputies said. For his alleged impersonation of a convict, a misdemeanor, he could spend up to a year in jail.