McNeil Island crack-smuggling scheme thwarted

McNeil Island crack-smuggling scheme thwarted
By The Associated Press

Federal and state authorities say they've foiled a conspiracy to bring crack cocaine into Washington's sex offender lockup on McNeil Island.

Two people have been arrested this week — Paepaega Matautia Jr., a 39-year-old employee of the Special Commitment Center, and Lawrence Williams, a 50-year-old resident.

The U.S. attorney's office in Seattle says Matautia delivered cocaine to Williams in the facility's mail room on eight occasions, and that the case was cracked with the help of a confidential informant.

Matautia made his initial appearance in federal court Thursday on a charge of attempted cocaine possession with attempt to distribute. Williams, who was arrested Friday, was expected to appear Monday on a charge of conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine.

"We knew about this investigation, and we cooperated fully," said Steve Williams, a spokesman for the state Department of Social and Health Services, which runs the commitment center. "We have no tolerance for this sort of thing."

Matautia worked as a mailroom security officer, helping to ensure residents don't receive contraband through the mail, Steve Williams said. The man cleared a background check before he was hired in December 2003.

His attorney, Phil Brennan, said Friday he had just received the case and had no immediate comment.

Lawrence Williams was admitted to the commitment center in August 2002. He was convicted of first-degree rape with a deadly weapon in 1980.

It was not immediately clear if Lawrence Williams had been assigned a lawyer.

E. coli found in McNeil Island water

E. coli found in McNeil Island water
By Carol M. Ostrom

Seattle Times staff reporter

Inmates and workers at the McNeil Island Corrections Center are drinking bottled water after lab tests over the weekend revealed the presence of fecal coliform and E. coli in the island's water system.
No illnesses have been conclusively linked to the contamination, although a few reports described symptoms that could be related, according to state Health Department and prison officials.

Residents of the island, who number about 125, are being advised to boil water used for drinking, making ice, washing dishes or preparing food. Bottled water is being distributed to inmates, staff members and visitors, said Corrina McElfish, spokeswoman for the corrections center.

Bob James, regional manager of the Department of Health's drinking-water program, said the sample that tested positive for E. coli also had lower levels of chlorine, which is used to disinfect the water. The island's drinking water comes from a lake on the island; it is disinfected and filtered at a treatment plant and piped to a storage reservoir or into the distribution system serving the prison, other state facilities and private homes.

James said the source of the problem was being investigated. Meanwhile, the system will be flushed and disinfected where necessary, and chlorine levels will be increased and the water sampled again. "We err on the somewhat conservative side," James said. "The prudent thing is to take action."

The tests on the water were done in two stages, James said. The first samples showed higher levels of fecal coliform, bacteria that water-quality experts use as an indicator there could be disease-causing organisms in the water. The second tests, done Saturday, showed higher levels of E. coli, a bacterium often found in the intestinal tracts and feces of livestock.

Water systems typically have not been a source for a particularly dangerous strain of E. coli, O157:H7. In 1993, an outbreak of that strain, stemming from tainted hamburgers, sickened 500 people and killed three children; an E. coli O157:H7 outbreak in 1996 linked to apple juice sickened 66 people in several Western states and killed a Colorado girl.

McNeil Island Corrections Center, operated by the state, houses approximately 1,050 adult male felons and employs about 600 staff members. The Special Commitment Center, operated by the state Department of Social and Health Services, is located in a separate facility on the island and houses 199 sexual predators. Steve Williams, a department spokesman, said none of the center's residents or staff members had been sickened.

Carol M. Ostrom: 206-464-2249 or costrom@seattletimes.com