Rodeo gang member sentenced for Pelican Bay drug smuggling conspiracy while serving life for murder

SACRAMENTO — A federal decide has sentenced a Rodeo gang member to 11 years in jail for a plot to smuggle “balloons” of heroin and methamphetamine into Pelican Bay State Jail in 2017, court docket data present.

Patrick Botello, 36, pleaded responsible a yr in the past to conspiracy to own with intent to distribute methamphetamine and heroin into the infamous jail in 2017. He was sentenced Thursday by U.S. District Decide Troy L. Nunley, court docket data present.

Botello was serving a 40 years to life sentence for murdering 16-year-old Dominic Porter, a Vacaville resident, at a Pinole home occasion in 2007. The teenager had lately moved to California from Ohio and was attending Will C. Wooden Excessive College, this newspaper reported on the time. Botello allegedly shot him within the head.

The plea settlement Botello signed says he organized for an individual recognized in court docket data as “Particular person 5” to go to one other prisoner and smuggle the medicine to him. Authorities say they intercepted 30 “balloons” containing greater than 50 grams of methamphetamine and 12.9 grams of heroin. Botello’s lawyer wrote in a sentencing temporary that he performed a minor function within the conspiracy.

The crime was found due to an FBI wiretap associated to Operation Silent Evening, a Woodland-based investigation that resulted in federal prices towards 27 individuals.

Botello was requested to go away the occasion on Zoe Court docket after inflicting a scene as a result of somebody ran into him after which didn’t apologize. When Botello and his mates refused to go away, some occasion friends pulled weapons, prompting Botello’s group to go away and return with their very own weapons. About 10 individuals have been standing exterior the occasion when Botello and one other man fired greater than a dozen rounds. Porter was struck within the head as he stood in a doorway. A second younger man was struck within the leg, Contra Costa prosecutors mentioned on the time.

In a letter to Nunley earlier than sentence, Botello wrote that he was grateful to have his household again in his life and spent his time in federal custody on the Sacramento jail taking courses and getting into self-help applications. He mentioned he feels “prepared to vary and change into a job mannequin to my youngsters and my neighborhood.”

“General, I really feel supported by my household, and relieved that I've my kids again in my life. I really feel like I'm making quite a lot of progress in my highway to restoration, and able to face the punishment that I do know I deserve,” Botello wrote.

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