FRESNO CHAMBER LEADER ARRESTED IN DRUG STING

Florida Police Say Stebbins Dean Asked For Cocaine

The head of Fresno's Chamber of Commerce faces a felony drug charge after
police said he tried to buy crack cocaine from an undercover officer in
Florida while on a business trip.

Stebbins Franklin Dean, 50, was booked into the Collier County Jail about
11 p.m. Saturday. He posted $2,500 bond and was released about 7:30 a.m.
Sunday.

Dean, chief executive officer of the Greater Fresno Area Chamber of
Commerce, denied the allegations Monday, saying he went for a walk, got
lost and was about to call for a ride when the undercover officer
approached him.

Dean said he told the officer he needed a "cab," which he believes was
mistaken for the word "coke." The CEO said he has never used illegal drugs
and didn't try to purchase them Saturday.

"People that know me know that I don't do drugs," Dean said in a phone
interview from Naples, Fla. "I can't believe this. I'm totally emotionally
upset."

Dean, however, has faced prior drug-related charges. In November, Dean was
arrested in Fresno on suspicion of two counts of drunken driving and one
count of possessing a drug pipe, court records state.

He pleaded no contest in January to one count of misdemeanor DUI, and the
other charges were dismissed. No contest is the same as a guilty plea for
sentencing purposes.

The CEO received three years probation and was fined and ordered to serve
six days of community service.

Dean said Monday "there was no drug paraphernalia" involved in his previous
case. He declined to answer further questions without talking with his
attorney, whom he would not name.

Dean said he has "nothing to not disclose."

"This is very serious," he said. "I'm sorry this happened."

Dean is in Florida for the Chamber Executives' Leadership Forum, sponsored
by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. About 130 chamber representatives from
throughout the country attended the event, which began Sunday and runs
through today.

Eric Wohlschlegel, a spokesman for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in
Washington, D.C., said he didn't know that someone attending the conference
had been arrested. "The people here within the chamber in Washington are
not aware of it."

Larry Johanson, chairman of the local chamber, said Dean is supposed to
return today from Florida. Chamber officials will talk with him then. Dean
is on administrative leave from his job pending an investigation.

"I don't want this to distract from all the good work the chamber does,"
Johanson said. "The chamber is not just one person, but is a group of 1,900
businesses."

Dean said he agrees with the decision to put him on leave: "That, I think,
is fair."

A police report gives this account of Dean's arrest:

The CEO told police he took a taxicab from the Ritz-Carlton Hotel to an
area about eight blocks north of downtown.

He was later arrested on the 1000 block of Third Avenue North, located in a
2-square-mile, drug-infested neighborhood, said Greg Gaffney, a sergeant
with the Naples Police and Emergency Services Department.

"If you're looking for something like [crack cocaine], that would be the
way to go," Gaffney said.

Narcotics officers working near the River Park Apartments saw Dean walking
by, trying to talk with people in the neighborhood. An undercover detective
approached Dean and asked, "What do you need?"

Dean replied with "80," a street term for $80 worth of crack cocaine. The
detective told Dean he could sell him drugs and asked to see money. Dean
tugged his wallet from his back pocket and flashed cash.

The detective showed Dean three pieces of fake crack cocaine, each about
half the length of a fingernail. The drug often is smoked in pipes.

The two then bickered over the price, finally settling on $42. After the
exchange, Dean walked away.

Backup officers arriving to arrest Dean saw him throw the fake drugs into a
large rubbish pile. They never were found, and Gaffney said they would be
difficult to locate in the dark.

Dean told officers he has never smoked crack cocaine, and he had planned to
try it for the first time.

"You have to wonder because he seemed like he knew what he was doing,"
Gaffney said.

Police took Dean to jail, where he made a collect call to Mary and Jimmy's
Bail Bonds, a company spokeswoman said.

Dean, who was read the police report, disputed the detective's version:
Dean said he was walking in downtown Naples when he turned north,
eventually ending up in the shady neighborhood: "I had no idea where I was.
I was just looking for a way home."

He told the undercover officer who approached him that he was looking for a
cab. Dean told The Bee he didn't have his cell phone.

The officer was very aggressive: "This guy came up and started pressing me
and stuff. He started asking me what I wanted."

Dean would not comment on their conversation: "That's where we kind of run
into a dispute."

Dean said he will plead innocent at his arraignment Aug. 18 in Collier
County Circuit Court. If found guilty, he faces a maximum of five years in
prison and a $2,500 fine, Gaffney said.

If the charges are true, Dean might have violated his probation from the
January DUI conviction, said Don Penner, chief assistant district attorney
in Fresno County.

On Nov. 2, a California Highway Patrol officer pulled Dean over on
southbound Freeway 99 near Shields Avenue because he was not wearing a seat
belt.

Dean's blood-alcohol content was 0.17%, more than double the 0.08% allowed
for drivers under California law, according to Fresno County Superior Court
documents.

Officials found the pipe while taking inventory of the 2001 Pontiac Grand
Am after Dean's arrest.

Officials would not detail the drug-paraphernalia charge, but the law code
indicates it is illegal to possess "any device, contrivance, instrument, or
paraphernalia used for unlawfully injecting or smoking a controlled substance."

It is common to drop such a charge during a plea bargain. The prosecutor
who took the plea did not know Dean was prominent in the community, Penner
said.

"There's nothing to me that suggests this guy got any kind of preferential
treatment," Penner said.

Dean could have been sentenced to up to six months in jail. Instead, he was
given probation, during which he was ordered to obey all laws and attend a
Driving While Intoxicated program for first offenders.

Dean became CEO of the Fresno Chamber in 1991, succeeding Douglas Yavanian,
who resigned for health reasons. Previously, he was the chief
administrative officer of the Oceanside Chamber of Commerce, a post he held
starting in 1987.

Staff writers Michael Baker, Sanford Nax and Tracy Correa contributed to
this report. The reporter can be reached at jfitzenberger@fresnobee.com or
441-6313.