Pubdate: Fri, 16 Feb 2001
Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Copyright: 2001 San Jose Mercury News
Contact:  750 Ridder Park Drive, San Jose, CA 95190
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Author: Kristen Wyatt, Associated Press

CONVICT ACCUSED OF PAYING AN ADDICT TO SERVE HIS SENTENCE

ATLANTA -- Federal authorities aren't used to people trying to sneak into 
prison. So Pierre Carlton had no trouble fooling them.

Carlton agreed to serve another man's 20-month prison sentence after he was 
promised cash and free crack, authorities say. He spent 15 months posing as 
Dexter Mathis, and proved to be a model prisoner who earned a high school 
equivalency degree, kicked a drug habit and spent most of his time reading.

He was 47 days from being released early for good behavior when he got sick 
of pretending and didn't show up at a halfway house.

Since then, authorities have found the real Mathis, who allegedly cooked up 
the scheme when he was out on bail after pleading guilty to receiving 
$2,762 in proceeds from a bank robbery. Mathis is back in jail and has 
pleaded not guilty to additional conspiracy charges.

Mathis' lawyer, Steven Berne, said his client was only trying to help Carlton.

"Mr. Carlton had a drug addiction, and Mr. Mathis educated him on the 
benefits of drug treatment in prison,'' Berne said Thursday. ``This was a 
decision made by Mr. Carlton.''

Authorities say Mathis was Carlton's drug supplier and was able to persuade 
him to serve his sentence by offering him cash and free crack after his 
release.

On June 7, 1999, Mathis drove Carlton to the U.S. Marshal's office where 
Carlton, who had memorized Mathis' biographical information, turned himself in.

Carlton is 32 and Mathis is 31 but the two men don't look much alike. 
Mathis is 6-foot-3 and weighs more than 200 pounds; Carlton is at least 
four inches shorter.

"The only thing they have in common is they're both black males,'' said 
Paul Kish, Carlton's lawyer.

It was unclear whether federal prison officials compared Carlton's 
fingerprints to Mathis'. A spokesman for the U.S. Penitentiary in Atlanta 
said prison officials rely on federal marshals to deliver the correct inmate.

While Carlton was behind bars, Mathis pumped $500 to $1,000 into his prison 
account. And Carlton, who already had a high school equivalency diploma, 
pursued another one because he was bored.

The ruse unraveled Sept. 27, when Carlton was put on a bus and ordered to 
report to an Atlanta halfway house for the final seven weeks of the 
sentence. He never showed up.

A week later, an FBI agent investigating a bank robbery spotted a car with 
tags that were traced to an alias once used by Mathis. He followed up and 
found the real Dexter Mathis.

After authorities realized Mathis was not the man who had spent 15 months 
in prison, he was charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States and 
is now serving his original sentence.

Carlton has pleaded guilty for his role and will probably face probation, 
Kish said.

"I was hoping I was going to head out of prison either clean and sober or 
either have me drugs,'' Carlton told a judge.
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