FRESNO, CA - A former Fresno police department deputy chief and six others have been indicted for drug trafficking.
According to US attorney Benjamin B. Wagner, a federal grand jury indicted former Fresno deputy police chief Keith Foster and six others, charging them with a variety of drug trafficking offenses.
In addition to Keith Foster, 51, the indictment includes charges against Randy Flowers, 48; Iran Dennis “Denny” Foster, 44; Rafael Guzman, 41; Jennifer Donabedian, 35; and Sarah Ybarra, 37, all of Fresno; and Ricky Reynolds, 30, of Shasta Lake. All defendants are scheduled to be arraigned on the indictment at 1:30 p.m. on Friday, April 10, 2015.
Foster is charged with participating in three separate conspiracies to distribute different controlled substances throughout the past year.
Both Foster and Flowers are charged with conspiring to distribute oxycodone.
Flowers is also charged with being a felon in possession of three firearms.
Both Foster and Guzman are charged with conspiring to distribute heroin.
Foster is also charged with conspiring with Reynolds, Donabedian, Ybarra and Denny Foster to distribute marijuana.
Denny Foster is also charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm. Each defendant is charged in at least one count with using a cellphone in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense.
Denny Foster and Guzman are charged with conspiring to distribute methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin.
If convicted, the defendants face a statutory maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine for the counts charging controlled substances other than or in addition to marijuana, a maximum of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for the marijuana-only trafficking offenses, four years in prison and a $250,000 fine for using a cellphone to facilitate the commission of a felony, and a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for being a felon in possession of a firearm.
The case was investigated by the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.