MESA HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS ARE CAUGHT UP IN DRUG STING

MESA - Five Mountain View High School students, including a starting
football player, face possible drug charges after a five-month undercover
operation by Mesa police.

Three of the students face felony charges in connection with selling drugs,
while two others face possible drug-possession charges, police said.

Mesa police Sgt. Chuck Trapani said the drug amounts the students were
dealing were substantially larger than normally seen in cases involving
high school students. He said that the drug deals and undercover operation
were not done at the school and that Mountain View was not involved with
the investigation.

Police launched the operation last year after receiving a tip.

In December, two female Mountain View juniors, ages 16 and 17, met an
undercover detective at a church parking lot about 900 feet from a
crime-free school zone and delivered cocaine for $180, police said. The
16-year-old girl told the detective, "Look at it. It's solid," the report said.

In February, the 17-year-old sold a quarter-ounce of cocaine to the same
detective for $190. When he asked her if it was good, she said that her
source had given her a "gummer," a sample, and that it was good, a police
report shows.

The detective discovered that the source of the cocaine was a 16-year-old
male student at the school. The detective bought a half-ounce of cocaine
for $330 in February and an ounce of cocaine for $650 in March from the
student, according to the report.

In March, police followed that student to two others, Andrew "Drew" Patrick
Matthews and football player Channing Neal Keller, both 18-year-old seniors
scheduled to graduate this week.

Matthews and Keller told the undercover detective they had marijuana and
had smoked some earlier in the day, police reports show. Matthews also told
police he had delivered "high-grade rigs" (marijuana) to another Mountain
View student and was paid. The serial numbers on the money matched the cash
the detective used earlier in the day to buy cocaine.

The 16-year-old boy, a junior at Mountain View, told police he had dealt
drugs for six months. He also told investigators that he negotiated a
half-pound cocaine deal in March with a detective but saw an undercover car
following him, got scared and stopped dealing drugs altogether, police said.

"Drug dealers beware," Trapani said. "The next time you sell drugs may be
to an undercover, which may lead to your arrest."

Two of the students were referred to Juvenile Court two weeks ago on
possible charges of possession and sale of narcotic drugs and the transfer
and sale of narcotic drugs, Class 2 felonies. A third juvenile was referred
to Juvenile Court on the transfer and sale of narcotic drugs. Matthews and
Keller's cases have been forwarded to the Maricopa County Attorney's
Office, and they could face possible drug-possession charges, police said.

Mesa Public Schools spokeswoman Kathy Bareiss said the school will review
the police report and determine whether district policies were violated.
Any disciplinary action would remain confidential, she said.

* Reporter JJ Hensley contributed to this article.