BAIL REDUCED FOR MARIJUANA SUSPECT

Matt Macosko pleaded not guilty on Thursday to charges that allege in
February or March he provided a 12-year-old and a 14-year-old with marijuana
while living at Sky Lake Lodge, a motel at 2644 U.S. Highway 50.

He is expected back in El Dorado County Superior Court today at 1:30 p.m.
for a bail review hearing. Macosko's bail was initially set at $140,000, but
Judge Suzanne Kingsbury reduced it to $75,000.

"No matter what he's going to be bailed tomorrow," said Hilary Wilson, an
ex-girlfriend of Macosko.

She and several other supporters came to the courthouse Thursday to support
their friend, who says he is not a drug dealer, but a medicinal marijuana
provider. Signs held on a lawn along Al Tahoe Boulevard stated: "Free Matt."
"Leave Us and Our Medicine Alone." "Recognize California Law."

Hans Uthe, assistant district attorney for El Dorado County, said
Proposition 215, the Compassionate Use Act passed in 1996 that allows
chronically ill people to use marijuana, does not apply to Macosko.

"He is a drug dealer, we have no bone to pick with the law," Uthe said.
"When people abuse it and hide behind it, then the protection afforded by
the law shouldn't exist. I'm sure voters did not have that in mind when they
passed it."

Macosko, 28, was arrested Tuesday on the two felony charges that accuse him
of supplying minors with marijuana.

Law enforcement also found a scale, $1,800 in cash and almost a
quarter-pound of marijuana in his car. The discovery of the pot in his car
led to an additional charge of transporting marijuana. He was also booked
for resisting arrest because an agent from SLEDNET, South Shore's
multiagency drug task force, reported that Macosko refused to surrender
immediately.

"Macosko told me he was not going to get out of his vehicle and acted as if
I was joking," reported Brian Johnson, a SLEDNET officer. "Macosko was very
agitated and got close to my face and told me he was not under arrest.
Macosko squared his shoulders at me and it appeared that he wanted to fight
me. I walked back to my vehicle and contacted other units for assistance."

Macosko had a preliminary hearing scheduled Oct. 15. If he is convicted of
all charges he could be sentenced to a maximum of 11 years and four months
in prison.

He is also due in court Oct. 26 on a separate case stemming from an arrest
in April for driving from the U.S. Post Office at Al Tahoe Boulevard with a
quarter-pound of marijuana. In that case, he is charged with two counts of
transport marijuana, possession for sale, driving under the influence of the
drug. If convicted of those charges he could be sentenced to a maximum of
five years and eight months in prison.

The maximum sentence he could receive if convicted on all charges in both
cases is 14 years in prison.