Poulsbo man sentenced to 10 years in prison for smuggling cocaine

A former owner of a skateboard shop in Kingston, Kitsap County, was sentenced today to 10 years in prison for shipping hundreds of kilograms of cocaine to Canada two years ago.

Evans Matan, 36, of Poulsbo, was part of a cross-border ring of drug smugglers who were rounded up in late 2007 after a joint U.S.-Canada investigation. One of those charged in the conspiracy was a Canadian border guard who was waving drug couriers through the border.

Investigators learned about Matan when they raided a storage locker in Bothell that was used as a loading dock for cocaine shipments. The renter of the locker was an employee of the skate shop who told agents that Matan had recruited him to help move drugs, according to court documents.

Prosecutors said Matan, the son of a former Kitsap County coroner, had been a drug dealer for years, graduating from marijuana to cocaine.

In a letter to the judge, Matan, who suffers from a severe arthritic condition, apologized for his "inexcusable" actions, but said he only participated in the drug ring because he was threatened by others. He is married and has a 9-year-old son.

Ten years was the mandatory minimum sentence for the crime.