News Release
District Attorney Bob Lee announced that Donald Carl Peter of Santa Cruz, age 48, was sentenced to one year in county jail following his guilty pleas last month to all counts charged: one felony count of possessing methamphetamine for sale, one felony count of maintaining a place for the sale and use of controlled substances, and one felony count of possession of a deadly weapon. Mr. Peter also admitted special allegations for serving a prison sentence in 1993 for possession of methamphetamine and having a prior transportation of methamphetamine conviction in 1998.
Mr. Peter was arrested in August 2009 after the Sheriff's Office Narcotics Enforcement Team received tips that Mr. Peter, the manager of an SLE (Sober Living Environment) located at 114 Park Avenue was selling methamphetamine to residents of his SLE as well as members of the community.
Detectives obtained a search warrant for the SLE and found Mr. Peter inside with a lockbox containing six separately packaged bindles of methamphetamine totaling 16.7 grams, hundreds of resealable baggies, four digital scales, used syringes, methamphetamine pipes, various pills, and 2 cell phones ringing constantly. The cell phones contained numerous text messages addressed to Mr. Peter and related to drug sales. Mr. Peter also possessed metal knuckles and three knives with blades ranging from 11 to 26 inches. Three residents of the SLE present at the time of the search warrant were all found to be under the influence of methamphetamine.
Mr. Peter's criminal history includes 26 convictions since 1980, including felony possession of stolen property, felony burglary, two convictions for felony auto theft, eight convictions for felony possession of controlled substances, one felony and one misdemeanor conviction for evading a peace officer, and misdemeanor convictions for hit and run, two vandalism convictions, possession of a deadly weapon, falsely identifying himself to a peace officer, and four convictions for being under the influence of controlled substances. Mr. Peter has served six prior prison terms at the California Department of Corrections.
A probation officer assigned to evaluate Mr. Peter and the case for sentencing purposes recommended a sentence of five years and four months in the California Department of Corrections. The District Attorney's office concurred with that recommendation. Assistant District Attorney Kristina Oven argued that Mr. Peter's criminal history and sophisticated scheme of posing as an SLE manager while selling methamphetamine to his residents breached the trust of the courts, the community, and addicts seeking recovery, and merited the prison commitment.
