BAKERSFIELD - Noel Carter, 45, of Bakersfield, was sentenced today for conspiring with Bakersfield police officers Damacio Diaz and Patrick Mara to distribute methamphetamine and marijuana that Diaz and Mara seized in the course of their duties as police officers, U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced.

U.S. District Judge Lawrence J. O’Neill sentenced Carter to seven and a half years in prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release. Carter was also ordered to pay $70,513 in restitution to his former employer and to forfeit $286,251 representing proceeds from his drug trafficking activity.

According to court documents, from April 2012 to August 2015, Carter conspired with Diaz and Mara, who deliberately failed to submit the seized drugs into the Bakersfield Police Department evidence room and instead provided the stolen narcotics to Carter so that Carter could sell those narcotics for profit.

In May 2016, Diaz pleaded guilty to possessing with the intent to distribute methamphetamine, as well as receiving bribes and making a false income tax return. In June 2016, Mara pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute, and to possess with the intent to distribute, methamphetamine. Both were removed from active duty with the Bakersfield Police Department and are currently serving federal prison sentences.

According to the plea agreement in October 2018, Carter agreed to pay restitution to Pacific Workplaces, his former employer. Starting in September 2016 and up until his termination in September 2017, Carter was a contract manager for Pacific Workplaces, a virtual office and short-term office rental business. Carter admitted to embezzling money from the company and depositing the money into his personal account.

This case was the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the IRS Criminal Investigation, and the Bakersfield Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Brian K. Delaney and Angela Scott prosecuted the case.