Man Gets Year in Jail Over Inmate Switch

A man who persuaded a homeless friend to serve his term at a county jail in Castaic learned Friday that there are worse things than spending 15 days behind bars--such as spending nearly a year there.

Wilfred Bernard Genus, 19, was sentenced Friday to 347 days in jail by Los Angeles Municipal Court Commissioner Barry Kohn, who ruled that Genus had violated his probation in an earlier case.

Genus, who was ordered to begin serving the term immediately, was originally sentenced in October to two years of probation and given a choice of serving a 15-day jail term or paying a $450 fine after being convicted of illegal possession of a firearm.

Genus, a South Los Angeles resident, was supposed to have turned himself in Jan. 13, but instead persuaded a homeless friend to take his place.

Albert Flowers, 31, identifying himself as Genus, surrendered in Kohn’s courtroom and said he could not afford to pay the fine. He was ordered to serve the 15-day term at the Peter J. Pitchess Honor Rancho, Deputy City Atty. Ed Gauthier said.

The scheme was uncovered when Genus was arrested Jan. 17 on suspicion of possessing cocaine and a firearm while trying to visit an inmate in the same jail, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department officials 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 a van, deputies said. Genus and three passengers were taken into custody. One passenger, Philip Andrews, 24, of Los Angeles, was arrested on suspicion of possessing cocaine for sale, deputies said.

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

Flowers could have gotten away with the scheme, deputies said, if Genus had taken care not to be rearrested in the two-week period. Detectives said it was unclear why Flowers agreed to the switch.

Flowers will probably get more time in jail than he had bargained for, deputies said. If convicted of impersonation of an inmate, a misdemeanor, he could spend up to a year in jail.