Ex-deputy, wife plead guilty to drug charge

Californian staff writer
 

A former Kern County sheriff's deputy and his wife, a former sheriff's detention sergeant, pleaded guilty Friday to a misdemeanor count of being under the influence of methamphetamine.

The plea for Donald Ernst Feliz, 36, and Kahanna Matese Feliz, 31, was in exchange for the dismissal of other misdemeanor charges of child endangerment and possession of child pornography.

In addition, a charge of driving under the influence of drugs against Donald Feliz was dismissed.

The plea will allow the couple to apply for a drug diversion program as an alternative to going to jail, defense attorney Kyle Humphrey said.

The child pornography charges were dismissed after it was shown that the photographs were downloaded from a computer site which said those in the pictures were of legal age, Humphrey said.

The settlement was fair, Humphrey said, because "they both have lost their jobs and careers because of drugs. Both have also gone to drug rehabilitation. This was a wake-up call."

The couple, who were arrested in February, admitted to smoking methamphetamine worth up to $80 a week for the past three years at their Rosedale area home, sheriff's investigation reports say.

The husband resigned from his job, but she was fired. Neither are appealing the loss of their jobs, Humphrey said.

The driving under the influence of drugs charge against Feliz was based on his driving to the department to pick up his wife. No one actually saw him drive or exhibit a pattern which would indicate a driver under the influence, Humphrey said.

The husband had been a deputy for 13 years and his wife had been a detentions officer for 11 years.