ARNOLD MAN FACING 20 YEARS IN METH CASE

SAN ANDREAS -- A 38-year-old Arnold man is facing at least 20 years in
federal prison in connection with a methamphetamine-distribution case that
unraveled while he was in the Calaveras County Jail.

Brett Craig Binda is slated to be sentenced next month in U.S. District
Court in Denver, according to Calaveras County sheriff's Deputy Jim Macedo.

Binda pleaded guilty to conspiracy to traffic methamphetamine and sales of
methamphetamine. He is scheduled to be sentenced to a minimum 20-year
mandatory sentence in a federal penitentiary.

Binda's prison time is the result of an investigation that began while he
was being held in the county jail.

Macedo said the U.S. Postal Police and the Calaveras Narcotics Enforcement
Unit were involved in the investigation, which focused on conspiracy and
the trafficking of large amounts of methamphetamine to the state of Colorado.

Macedo said some of the methamphetamine was delivered by mail and some was
delivered "hand to hand."

Binda had pleaded guilty to manufacturing a controlled substance in
Calaveras County and was indicted on federal charges the day he was to be
released from the county jail, Macedo said.

Binda was transported to a federal facility in Sacramento and eventually
transferred to a federal holding facility in Littleton, Colo.

Macedo said Binda could have been sentenced to life in prison without the
possibility of parole if he had gone to trial in federal court and been
convicted. Instead, he pleaded guilty last month, Macedo said.

Macedo said other conspirators are involved in the case and other
indictments already have been handed down. He would not say if any other
area residents are targeted in the investigation.

Binda is no stranger to area law enforcement officials.

More than two years ago, he was arrested in connection with the fatal
stabbing of another man in a dispute over a stolen motorcycle.

Binda, who lived in the Arnold house where Jay Gore, 38, was fatally
stabbed June 27, 1998, was arrested on suspicion of being an accessory
after the fact to murder.

An arrest warrant was issued for Jeffery Phillip Pearson, 38, in connection
with that case, but sheriff's Detective Robert Mortimer said that after
interviewing Pearson, authorities decided not to charge him with any crime.