BAKERSFIELD - On Thursday, a superseding indictment was brought against Noel Carter, 45, of Bakersfield, adding charges of bank fraud and making a false statement on a loan application, U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced. On September 14, 2017, Carter was charged in an indictment for conspiring with Bakersfield Police Department officers Damacio Diaz and Patrick Mara to distribute methamphetamine and marijuana that Diaz and Mara seized in the course of their duties as police officers.
The superseding indictment re-alleges that from April 2012 to August 2015, Carter conspired with Diaz and Mara who deliberately failed to submit the seized drugs into the BPD evidence room, and instead provided the stolen narcotics to Carter so Carter could sell those narcotics for profit. The indictment also alleges that Mara took marijuana and provided it to Carter to process so it was suitable for sale. Finally, the indictment alleges that Carter conspired with Mara to unlawfully manufacture, process, and sell marijuana for profit.
Earlier court records indicate that in May 2016, Diaz pleaded guilty to possessing with the intent to distribute methamphetamine, as well as receiving bribes and making a false income tax return. In June 2016, Mara pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute, and to possess with the intent to distribute, methamphetamine. Both were removed from active duty with the Bakersfield Police Department and are currently serving federal prison sentences.
The superseding indictment adds five additional charges of bank fraud against Carter, alleging that in 2016 and 2017 Carter was a manager of a virtual office and short-term office rental business known as Pacific Workplaces located in the Bank of America Building, 5th Floor, 1430 Truxtun Avenue in Bakersfield. As a contract manager for the Pacific Workplaces office, Carter was responsible for the overall operation of the office, which included the rental of space, sale of services, and the invoicing and collection of payments from clients who used the services and facilities of Pacific Workplaces. Carter was required to deposit payments of Pacific Workplaces’ customers into company checking accounts. Carter is charged with knowingly and fraudulently negotiating Pacific Workplaces customers’ checks and depositing those checks into his personal bank account at Chase Bank, for his own personal gain.
The superseding indictment also adds one additional count of making false statement on a loan application with a federally insured financial institution. The count alleges that on November 3, 2017, Carter knowingly made false statements in a loan application for the purchase of a new Mercedes-Benz automobile. Carter claimed that he earned a gross monthly income of $20,000 from Pacific Workplaces, and provided false pay stubs in support of this statement, when in fact, his actual monthly income from Pacific Workplaces was approximately $4,000.
This case is the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the IRS Criminal Investigation, and the Bakersfield Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Brian K. Delaney and Angela Scott are prosecuting the case.
If convicted, Carter faces a maximum statutory penalty of life in prison and a $10 million fine. Any sentence, however, would be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables. The charges are only allegations; the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
