PRISON TEACHER ACCUSED OF DRUG SMUGGLING

A Kern County Fire Department captain who also works as a substitute
teacher at Wasco State Prison was arrested last week after prison
investigators allegedly caught him smuggling heroin into the Kern County
institution.

Tim Handel, 55, was arrested Friday by investigators from the prison and
the California Department of Corrections Office of Internal Affairs as he
picked up a package - allegedly full of narcotics - at a Bakersfield
mailing business. The bust was the culmination of a three-month
investigation, during which prison officials said they discovered that
Handel was hiding drugs inside pens and bringing them inside the prison.

Prison investigators said they nabbed Handel Friday evening after he picked
up a delivery of an unknown amount of drugs. He was booked into Kern County
Jail on counts of possession of drugs and trafficking drugs, according to
prison spokesman John Katavich.

Handel's attorney, James Noriega, denied the allegations Wednesday, saying
his client had been "used" as a courier for the drugs without his
knowledge. Noriega said his client was asked to bring the pens - a handful
per month - into the prison as a favor and had no idea what was inside them.

"He was basically conned by a con," Noriega said. "He tested them, they
wrote like (felt pens) and he thought it was no big deal."

According to prison officials, Handel would leave the drug-filled pens in
the hands of his inmate students, who would remove and distribute the
heroin. Six inmates are believed to have taken part in the scheme and all
have been moved into an administrative segregation unit inside the prison.

Handel has worked for the prison off and on since July 1996, teaching
academic and vocational classes from time to time, Katavich said.

"He would work anywhere from one day a week to a month straight depending
on what was needed," Katavich said.

While not teaching at the prison, Handel is also an acting captain with the
Kern County Fire Department and is usually assigned to the Stallion Springs
station. He remained on administrative leave from the fire department
Wednesday, pending the outcome of his criminal case, Fire Chief Dan Clark said.

Handel has worked for the county department for the past 15 years and
currently serves as an engineer with the department's hazardous materials team.