A six-month investigation by the Pismo Beach Police Department has led to the arrest of two employees of a local motel for allegedly providing drugs to teenagers and then sexually molesting them.
The two men – Edward Wilderman, 45, and Garrett Nelson, 19 – worked, respectively, as the manager and desk clerk at the Ocean Breeze Inn at 250 Main St. in Pismo Beach.
Both were arrested on Saturday and charged with giving a 15-year-old boy and a 16-year-old girl hallucinogenic mushrooms, cocaine, Ecstasy, and meth and then engaging in oral sex with the teens. Police also say the men took pornographic photos of one of the minors.
Pismo Beach Police Department’s Cpl. Michael Hunter would not comment on how the police were alerted to the alleged activities of the two men. However, he did say that the department “had received information about possible narcotics trafficking going on in that area.-
Hunter said the investigation lasted six months while police gathered information and conducted surveillance.
When Wilderman and Nelson were arrested, police say they found meth and drug paraphernalia at an apartment at the motel.
According to the Tribune, both men have been fired from the motel.
-A.H.
This article appears in Oct 13-20, 2005.