Matthew Ware, age 29, was placed on probation for three years in two felony cases, one involving a significant amount of drugs and the other a failure to appear charge.
Matthew Ware and co-defendant Donovan McIver were arrested in June 2018 and the vehicle they were traveling in was found to contain approximately 44 grams of marijuana and 415 grams of heroin.
According to a July 2018 unclassified DEA intelligence report, the 2016 price per gram of Heroin in the United States was approximately $902; meaning that 415 grams would have a street value of $374,330. The average price per gram of marijuana is $10 according to priceofweed.com, meaning the seized marijuana had a value of $440.
Both McIver and Ware failed to appear at arraignment hearings following their arrest and were brought to court on bench warrants. They also both claimed to not know that there were drugs in the car or even where the car was traveling to.
McIver, age 26, was sentenced in February and told the court that he was unaware that there were drugs in the vehicle or even where the vehicle was going, as he was the passenger. He said someone offered him money to be the passenger in the car.
Both the court and legal representatives indicated that McIver may have been taken advantage of by drug traffickers, which was why he was allowed to plea to a category C felony charge of conspiracy to violate the uniform controlled substance act rather than trafficking charges.
McIver was said to have no criminal history and was placed on probation with a diversion program to avoid a felony conviction which allowed him to return to his hometown of Spokane, Washington and participate in mental health court as a term of his probation.
Ware, age 28, originally pleaded not guilty to trafficking in a controlled substance level III, a category A felony and possession of a controlled substance, a category E felony in a September arraignment hearing.
Trafficking 28 grams or more of a schedule I drug such as heroin, according to Nevada Revised Statutes 453.3385 carries a potential life sentence in prison with a 10-year minimum for parole, or 25 years with a minimum of 10 years for parole with no probation or suspended sentence, and a maximum $500,000 mandatory fine.
The charge Ware pleaded to following negotiations was possession of a controlled substance, a category E felony that carries with it a one to four year prison sentence, up to $5,000 fine and eligibility for a suspended sentence and probation.
Ware also pleaded to a felony charge of failure to appear, for which he was ordered a suspended sentence and probation to run concurrent with his other charge.
Both Ware’s attorney Maureen McQuillan and prosecuting Deputy District Attorney recommended that Ware be placed on probation with credit for 148 days served in the Humboldt County Detention Center for the failure to appear charge.
Ware was ordered to 12 to 34 months in prison with 148 days credit for time served for the failure to appear. The prison sentence was suspended and Ware was placed on probation for 36 months and ordered to pay a $153 DNA collection and analysis fee, $25 administrative assessment fee and $250 public defender fee.
Ware’s attorney, Public Defender Matthew Stermitz told the court that Ware flew from Phoenix to Spokane Washington to produce music and was trying to get to Los Angeles to his wife when he was offered a ride and ended up in a car with McIver. Stermitz said that Ware had $4,000 in cash from the work he did in Spokane involving music production and that Ware ended up a “victim of circumstance” in the matter.
Ware told the court that he has a wife and five kids that he wanted to return to and that his mother is sick.
On the possession of a controlled substance charge, Ware pleaded no contest to a category E felony and was ordered to a $3 DNA collection fee, $25 administrative assessment fee, $60 forensic fee and $200 public defender fee and a 12-34 month prison sentence to run consecutive to the sentence in the first charge. The prison sentence was suspended and Ware was placed on probation for 36 months to run concurrent (at the same time) as the previously ordered probation.
