Pelican Bay prison inmate gets additional 11-year sentence for drug smuggling

CRESCENT CITY, Del Norte County -- A Richmond man incarcerated at Pelican Bay State Prison was sentenced on Thursday to 11 more years and 3 months for participating in a conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine and heroin, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.

Patrick Botello, 36, worked with another inmate at Pelican Bay and arranged with four other people outside the prison to obtain meth and heroin, conceal the drugs in balloons, and then smuggle them into the supermax prison.

Botello was originally arrested in 2018 as part of Operation Silent Night, which apprehended 27 people on narcotics and weapons charges out of Woodland, California. 

The activity in Woodland involved organized crime that had connections to criminal gangs in jails and prisons, the DOJ said, and had far-reaching impacts on counties such as Solano, Santa Clara, and Sacramento.