California Ponzi scheme suspect who allegedly fled in ‘sea-scooter’ deemed a flight risk
Four days after Matthew Piercey allegedly tried to elude FBI agents by plunging into Shasta Lake with an underwater “sea scooter” for 25 minutes, a judge in Sacramento ruled he is a flight risk and ordered him to remain in custody at the Sacramento County Main Jail.
“Mr. Piercey cannot be trusted to be released,” U.S. Magistrate Judge Carolyn Delaney said during a Zoom court hearing. “I don’t have confidence that he will appear as ordered.”
And, as if the case – which has generated national headlines – was not strange enough already, Piercey lawyer David Fischer added a new twist: he told the court Piercey fled not because of the FBI but because he was afraid of an angry investor who once was special-agent-in-charge at the U.S. State Department’s diplomatic security service in San Francisco.
“On Monday, he was not fleeing to avoid arrest or prosecution, he was simply scared,” Fischer said.
Piercey, 44, of Palo Cedro, was being sought in connection with allegations that he bilked investors out of $35 million in a Ponzi scheme that included targeting parishioners of Redding’s Bethel Church, where he attended services in recent years.
Instead of surrendering, federal prosecutors say Piercey hopped into a tan SUV and led marked California Highway Patrol cars and unmarked FBI vehicles on a chase through residential neighborhoods, through an apartment complex parking lot and onto Interstate 5 until he arrived at the lake.
Once there, he abandoned his SUV – apparently losing a flip flop as he fled – and dived into the frigid water with his submersible device.
“Piercey spent some time out of sight underwater where law enforcement could only see bubbles,” Assistant U.S. Attorneys Christopher Hales and Miriam Hinman wrote in a memo seeking to keep Piercey in custody. “He remained in the frigid water for approximately 25 minutes.
“When Piercey finally emerged from the lake, law enforcement discovered that he had a Yamaha 350LI underwater submersible device.”
Piercey a flight risk
Prosecutors argued that Piercey’s actions Monday morning demonstrate that he is a flight risk, and introduced as exhibits a map of the chase, dash cam video from CHP cruisers of the pursuit and photos of Piercey’s SUV near the lake with its doors still open.
They also produced a blurry image of him swimming in the lake.
“Piercey should be detained pending trial based on his demonstrated flight risk and the serious risk that he will attempt to obstruct justice,” they wrote.
Fischer argued that Piercey was more afraid of investor David Zebley, a retired State Department official who Fischer said came to Piercey’s home in September.
“He came to his home and there was a confrontation where David Zebley was demanding to know the status of his money,” Fischer said. “He was very angry, shouting at him.”
Fischer said Zebley had once overseen many law enforcement agents and staff and said to Piercey, “Do you know who I am, you know what my background is?”
“Ever since that confrontation with Mr. Zebley, Mr. Piercey has been shaken by it,” Fischer said. “He was concerned Mr. Zebley was going to get his law enforcement friends to harm him.”
Zebley did not immediately respond to a message left at his Chico home Friday.
His Linkedin page indicates he worked for the State Department overseas in postings from Mexico, Bangladesh, Colombia and other nations. In San Francisco, he served from 2014 overseeing security for foreign VIPs and conducting criminal investigations with a staff of more than 100 agents and staffers, his page says.
Hales disputed Fischer’s explanation for why Piercey fled, noting that video of the pursuit showed Piercey driving away from marked CHP vehicles with sirens and lights activated.
He added that when agents searched Piercey’s home over the summer, Piercey physically engaged one until agents had to take him to the ground.
Hales also said Piercey was not cooperative even when he emerged from the lake Monday, and had tried to negotiate being arrested without being handcuffed.
Delaney made it clear she had no intention of letting Piercey out of jail to be placed under house arrest at his home with his wife and three children, as Fisher requested.
“I’m not prepared to release Mr. Piercey,” she said. “It appears to me that he knew full well that the police were chasing him and that he was intending to get away from them, even going so far as using the submersible device.”
After Delaney made her decision, Piercey piped up by video from the jail, asking, “Is it customary to make a decision like that before I get the opportunity to speak?”
He was informed his hearing was over, and the court moved on.
Piercey previously made a brief Zoom appearance in court Monday from the Sacramento County Main Jail and pleaded not guilty to the 31 counts of wire fraud, mail fraud, attempted witness tampering and money laundering contained in a federal grand jury indictment by U.S. Attorney McGregor Scott’s office.
His co-defendant and business partner, Kenneth Winton, 67, of Oroville, is not in custody and pleaded not guilty Thursday to a single count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. A change of plea hearing has been scheduled for Winton on Dec. 3, according to court records.
This story was originally published November 20, 2020 at 4:10 PM with the headline "California Ponzi scheme suspect who allegedly fled in ‘sea-scooter’ deemed a flight risk."