Cellphones, hacksaw blades hidden in snack cakes mailed to California inmates lead to prison time

A California prison contractor who shipped cellphones, drugs, saw blades and other items into two prisons for the Aryan Brotherhood prison gang was sentenced to 10 years and 10 months Monday as part of federal prosecutors’ sprawling racketeering case against the gang.

Justin “Rune” Petty, 42, who prosecutors say concealed the contraband inside Little Debbie snack cakes and other food parcels, was sentenced in Sacramento by Chief U.S. District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller following a plea deal made last February.

Petty was accused of planning the shipments during phone calls with Aryan Brotherhood member Ronald Yandell that were intercepted by prison officials investigating the gang for allegedly ordering hits on inmates and people outside prisons, dealing drugs and smuggling cellphones.

“Obviously, it was a bad, bad decision,” Petty defense attorney Dina Santos said before Petty was sentenced. “That’s how he came into this case.

“He was contacted at the time he was selling drugs and he sold them to this gang.”

Petty, who appeared for sentencing by a Zoom video hookup from custody, declined to offer a statement to the judge before sentencing.

But court documents and Santos say Petty was trying to earn money to support his two teenage children and that he has a long criminal history and drug addiction.

“When he’s on drugs he makes very poor choices,” Santos said. “At the end of the day, he is somebody who has a drug problem and made some very bad choices.”

The judge noted that Petty has a series of tattoos — including a swastika — and may have been a skinhead. But she said Petty denied being a member of the Aryan Brotherhood, a violent organization that the Southern Poverty Law Center says is the nation’s oldest and largest white supremacist prison gang.

“It’s the swastika that popped out,” Mueller said. “I would just note that tattoos can be removed, and Mr. Petty may want to think about that if he’s not affiliated with the Aryan Brotherhood.”

A June 2019 federal indictment charged 16 defendants in and out of prison with racketeering and other offenses that included ordering murders and selling drugs and cellphones.

Petty has a criminal history dating back to 2001, court records say, and was working at a firm called Golden State Overnight in 2016 that contracted with California prisons to ship packages to inmates.

Investigators intercepted more than 1,800 phone calls among inmates and alleged accomplices during their yearslong probe of the Aryan Brotherhood.

Court records say a series of calls between Petty and Yandell tipped authorities to the smuggling plan to ship packages into California State Prison-Sacramento and High Desert State Prison.

In one call, Petty described “how he was going to place cellphones, batteries, chargers, mini-hack saw blades, drill bits, er pieces and other items inside Little Debbie snacks, including Honey Cakes,” court records say. “Petty also described other contraband items, which were later confirmed to be drugs.”

“Petty said that the box would be sealed as if it were straight from the vendor,” court documents say.

Ultimately, the contraband was concealed inside the honey cakes, fudge brownies and oatmeal boxes, court records say.

On Sept. 2, 2016, investigators at CSP, Sacramento, near Folsom intercepted a package mailed to an inmate and discovered three cellphones, two USB charging cables, six grinding discs, seven lighters, a cellphone battery, seven small screwdrivers, two Bluetooth ear pieces, 10 metal blades, 24.5 grams of methamphetamine and 15.26 grams of tar heroin, court records say.

The contraband was concealed in a manner designed to avoid detection by prison staff who would have searched the box’s contents before giving them to the inmate,” Court records say.

Four days after that package was intercepted, officials at High Desert State Prison near Susanville opened a package from Golden State overnight that had 10 cellphones and methamphetamine and heroin hidden inside boxes of brownies and Oatmeal Creme Pies, court records say.

Petty was facing a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years as part of his plea deal, and his attorney argued for that sentence while prosecutors asked for 130 months.

Probation recommended a 145-month sentence, arguing that Petty’s crimes “represented a serious threat to the safety and well-being of prison employees and inmates,” court records say.

“Petty’s conduct introduced weapons into the prison with the potential of harming or killing other inmates or correctional officers and staff,” court records say. “The Aryan Brotherhood’s access to contraband through Petty created the ability for additional crimes to be committed and the seriousness of his conduct cannot be minimized.”

In addition to his sentence, Petty faces five years of supervision following his release.