Trio gets probation for hauling a lot of pot

Three California men who admitted they had a large amount of concentrated marijuana were given probation on July 2.

Jahir Asante Castellanos, 21, Erick Thomas Barrios, 18, and Leequann Latee Parker, 20, were sentenced after pleading guilty April 16 to possession of a controlled substance for sale.

“It’s almost not hyperbole to say there was a ton of marijuana in the car,” District Judge Tod Young said during the hearing.

“It wasn’t a ton, but there was a lot,” defense attorney Matthew Ence said. Ence said Barrios accepted a ride from Reno to Los Angeles, but knew the marijuana was in the vehicle. There was so much deputies could smell it from outside.

Barios received a suspended 12-30 month prison sentence.

Attorney Marty Hart said Parker is attending community college and is working part time.

“I had no good reason,” Parker said. “We shouldn’t have had it even if we were in Compton. I let my mom and all my sisters and brothers down.”

When asked if the consequences were worth the risk, Parker replied “No sir, it wasn’t.”

He also received an underlying 12-30-month sentence.

Castellanos admitted he was the person who loaded the marijuana into the vehicle and was driving 60 mph through Minden and Gardnerville when the trio were pulled over.

He had an alternative sentencing violation for testing positive for cannabis before an April 16 hearing and received a suspended 19-48-month sentence.

• A 49-year-old man is facing five years in prison for grand larceny of a vehicle.

Trampas Dauzat was originally arrested Oct. 24, 2021, after he admitted Monday to taking the keys to a silver Nissan Xterra from a man’s jacket pocket at the Mont Bleu in Stateline.

Dauzat has been in custody since June 6, according to Douglas County Jail records.

Sentencing is set for Aug. 26.

• A man who overdosed on fentanyl and had to be injected with Narcan may get a chance at diversion, according to attorneys at his Monday arraignment. 

Justin David Dick, 23, was arrested on Sept. 28, 2023, for possession of fentanyl.

According to court documents, he was driving while intoxicated and had a minor in the vehicle with him, who was also intoxicated.

Dick was scheduled to appear in district court on Dec. 11, 2023, but failed to appear and a warrant was issued for his arrest.

Pending a petition for diversion, a hearing is scheduled for July 22. If the petition is rejected, Dick faces up to four years in prison.

• A woman arrested last July on drug charges admitted to felony possession of methamphetamine and failure to appear in court.

Arebella Maria Cook, 46, faces up to four years in prison and a $5,000 fine on each count. The judge doesn’t have to place her on probation, and she won’t seek diversion. Prosecutors will recommend a suspended 19-48-month sentence at her Sept. 2 sentencing.

She also agreed to forfeit $7,000 cash found when she and Lorenzo Phillip Lammers were arrested on July 21, 2023.

Lammers received suspended simultaneous 19-48-month sentences in June on condition he participate in the program and remain in substance abuse counseling.

• An ex-felon and addict who said he was clean for 10 years before falling off the wagon received a suspended 12-36-month prison sentence.

Defense attorney Mary Brown described Adam Fisk Temple, 52, as a rare prison success story, saying he received his associates degree while incarcerated and helped set up an education program.

Prosecutor Jim Sibley recommended probation, saying that Temple has turned his life around.

Temple thanked Sibley for appreciating who he had become.

• A South Lake Tahoe man admitted possession of methamphetamine in connection with his Feb. 23 arrest.

Dylan Russell Foote, 39, faces a suspended 12-30-month sentence in connection for his Feb. 23, 2024, arrest. He will have to pay the Sheriff’s Office $151 for his June extradition.

• A South Lake Tahoe man faces up to five years in prison after he admitted to one count of burglary from a business in connection with a May 26 arrest.

Prosecutors will recommend a suspended 12-30 month prison sentence when Torrell Lashon Montgomery, 34, returns to court Aug. 20.

The theft occurred at the Topsy WalMart.