By MIKE MATHIS
Bucks County Courier Times
A former Lenape High School basketball coach, who was sentenced to probation in 2001 for smoking marijuana with four students before a basketball game, pleaded guilty Monday to a more recent drug charge.
Adrian L. Matthew, 36, of Moorestown pleaded guilty before Superior Court Judge Thomas S. Smith Jr. to a single count of distribution of 70 Ecstasy pills on Dec. 6, 2006, to an undercover detective in the parking lot of a Mount Laurel business, according to Frank Hughes, deputy first assistant Burlington County prosecutor.
Matthew faces six years in prison when sentenced on March 20. Matthew would have to serve three years and three months in prison before he becomes eligible for parole.
Ecstasy is an illegal, synthetic, psychoactive stimulant drug chemically similar to methamphetamine that produces an energizing effect, time and perception distortions, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Matthew's arrest on Dec. 8, 2006, culminated a month-long investigation conducted by the Burlington County Prosecutor's Office's Narcotics Task Force, Maple Shade, Mount Laurel and Moorestown police departments and the FBI, prosecutors said.
A total of 150 Ecstasy pills were found in Matthew's possession when he was arrested while driving on Main Street in Moorestown, prosecutor said.
Matthew was in the middle of his first year as a physical education teacher and varsity basketball coach at Lenape High School in Medford when he was charged with smoking marijuana in February 2001 in his home with four students before a game against Cherry Hill High School East.
He pleaded guilty in July 2001 to distribution of a controlled dangerous substance, possession of Ecstasy, child abuse and endangering the welfare of a child.
A judge sentenced Matthew to three years of probation and 100 hours of community service. Matthew was fired by the Lenape Regional High School District Board of Education. He is free on $75,000 bail
|
