Defendant in Foster drug-ring case enters guilty plea

The first of seven defendants who were indicted in April on a variety of federal drug-trafficking offenses – a group that included former Fresno police Deputy Chief Keith Foster – pleaded guilty Monday.

Sarah Ybarra, 37, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and/or possess with intent to distribute marijuana. In exchange, federal prosecutors agreed to drop three other charges.

Ybarra is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 23, and she faces a maximum possibility of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. But under a plea agreement, federal prosecutors are recommending – and Ybarra will not contest – a one-year prison term. The guideline sentencing range, based on a variety of factors, is six to 12 months.

Still, U.S. District Judge Anthony W. Ishii, who accepted the guilty plea in a Monday hearing, is not bound by the plea agreement.

The federal indictment charges Foster, a law enforcement veteran of almost 30 years who in early April resigned from the Fresno Police Department, with participating in three separate conspiracies to distribute different controlled substances.

Foster is charged with conspiring with a co-defendant, Randy Flowers, to distribute oxycodone. They are charged individually in four separate counts to distribute or possess with the intent to distribute oxycodone. Flowers is further charged with being a felon in possession of three firearms.

Flowers is Foster’s nephew.

The 13-page indictment also charges Foster and Rafael Guzman with conspiring to distribute heroin. Foster also is charged with conspiring with Ricky Reynolds, Jennifer Donabedian, Ybarra and Denny Foster to distribute marijuana. Denny Foster is also a nephew of Keith Foster.

Reynolds is separately charged with manufacturing marijuana, and both Reynolds and Denny Foster are charged individually in various counts alleging distribution of marijuana. Denny Foster is charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Each defendant is charged in at least one count with using a cellphone in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense. Finally, Denny Foster and Guzman are charged with conspiring to distribute methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin.

In the overall picture, Ybarra appears to be a minor player in the alleged conspiracy.

But Anthony Capozzi, a longtime defense attorney in Fresno and former federal prosecutor, said it doesn’t look like Ybarra cut a deal with prosecutors to testify against Foster or the other alleged co-conspirators who played bigger alleged roles. If she was, Capozzi said, the plea agreement would have been filed under seal, which means it would not be public record. In addition, he said the sentence is too short.

Foster is free as the case makes its way through the court system. Ybarra, however, is in custody. But if she gets a year, she likely will serve around 101/2 months, Capozzi said. Given the time she already has served, she will be out not long after her sentencing. If she were cooperating, Capozzi said, prosecutors would want her in custody until she could fulfill that role.

All the defendants are from Fresno except Reynolds, who is from Shasta Lake.

This story was originally published August 31, 2015 at 1:13 PM with the headline "Defendant in Foster drug-ring case enters guilty plea."