Pair plead no contest to trading assault weapons for marijuana in Mendocino County

Two men snagged during a multiagency police sting pleaded no contest Thursday to trading illegal assault weapons for marijuana in Mendocino County Superior Court, the Mendocino County District Attorney’s Office reported.

Matthew Stephen Williams, 20, a former basketball player at Oakland’s Merritt College, and his friend, Christian Alfredo Alcantar, 20, of Reno, Nevada, were arrested in Oakland in April after arranging to trade weapons for marijuana. Their marijuana dealers turned out to be undercover officers.

The Mendocino County Major Crimes Task Force seized four assault rifles, some pistols and ammunition clips during the operation, officials said. The gun sales occurred between January and April 2017 in Mendocino, Sonoma and Alameda counties. Further details were not available.

Williams will be sentenced Aug. 4 to 136 months in prison, the District Attorney’s Office reported.

Alcantar, who participated in one deal, will serve up to one year in county jail and be on probation for up to five years.

- Glenda Anderson