Former Air Force Clerk Admits Drug Conspiracy

A former Air Force purchasing clerk has pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges of funneling prescription drugs from a military base in El Segundo to Hells Angels associates in Ventura.

Joshua Adams, 23, entered a guilty plea Friday and admitted that he took more than $50,000 in federal property.

Adams is one of 16 defendants charged in a sweeping grand jury indictment that accuses Hells Angels members and associates of selling drugs to high school students in Ventura and Ojai.

The drug pipeline allegedly began with Adams, who worked in a medical squadron at Los Angeles Air Force Base.

According to the indictment, Adams ordered hundreds of bottles of Vicodin and Valium pills as a purchasing clerk at the base clinic and allegedly sold them to Rogelio Botello, 24, of Ventura, a Hells Angels associate.

Nine Hells Angels are among 28 defendants charged with 132 criminal counts in eight indictments.

Sixteen defendants, including Adams, are charged in the main conspiracy indictment. So far, three of those have pleaded guilty to conspiracy and related charges, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Kevin Suh.

Adams, who has already been convicted in a military court, faces up to six years in state prison for his guilty plea. He is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 6.