Sentenced in 2001 to probation for smoking marijuana with students pleads guilty to distribution of Ecstasy. Sentenced to six and a half years.
Jan 14, 2008 - Adrian L. Matthew, 36, a former Lenape High School basketball coach, pleaded guilty to distribution in December 2006 of 70 Ecstasy pills to an undercover detective. A total of 150 Ecstasy pills were found in Matthew’s possession at the time of his arrest.
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 with four students in his home before a game against Cherry Hill High School East in February 2001.He was sentenced to three years of probation and 100 hours of community service for those charges. He'll be sentenced on the ecstacy distribution charge on March 20.
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.
SENTENCED April 5, 2008 - Matthew was sentenced to six and a half years in state prison Friday for his second drug conviction since 2001. Under the terms of a plea agreement, he will have to serve 39 months of the sentence before being eligible for parole.
Matthews admitted to selling 70 Ecstasy pills for $900 to an undercover agent on Dec. 8, 2007 in a Mount Laurel parking lot. Defense lawyer John Dintino said his client was not trying to make money off the drug and was supporting a habit he had for sometime.
Matthews told the judge he was under pressure as a black man of some status in his hometown of Moores-town, where he was a standout athlete.
