LOS ANGELES (CNS) - A Long Beach man is expected to be sentenced today to at least five years behind bars for his role in a drug-trafficking conspiracy that smuggled narcotics into a prison with the help of the institution's then-cook.
Deandre “Casper D'' McIntosh, 44, was convicted at trial last year of one federal count of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. The charge carries a sentence of between five and 40 years imprisonment.
McIntosh was found guilty alongside Lamont “Mont'' Devault, 49, a convicted murderer serving a life sentence who coordinated the conspiracy by using a contraband cell phone, then oversaw the distribution of the drugs in the prison with the help of fellow inmate McIntosh. Both were inmates at Centinela State Prison in Imperial County.
Devault, who recruited his son to obtain narcotics outside the prison, was found guilty of three felonies: conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and other controlled substances, possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, and possession with intent to distribute heroin.
He was sentenced by U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner to more than 15 years in federal prison, but his sentence will begin if he is paroled from his state prison term, which began in 2002. He will be eligible for parole on the murder conviction in 10 years, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
According to the evidence presented at trial in Los Angeles federal court, Devault was an inmate at Centinela State Prison in 2017. His son supplied the drugs to co-defendant and then-prison cook Lance “Droop'' Medina, 34, of El Centro, so that Medina could smuggle the drugs into the prison by concealing them in his underwear.
In November 2017, Medina was caught smuggling nearly 54 grams of methamphetamine into the prison. Medina had another 131 grams of methamphetamine and 91 grams of heroin at his home that he was planning to smuggle into the prison at Devault's direction.
Devault concealed his financial gains with the help of a civilian employee of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, who pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to engage in money laundering and was sentenced to probation.
Medina and other defendants pleaded guilty to federal charges and are awaiting sentencing.
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