District Attorney Todd Riebe announced yesterday that Justin John Massaro, 20, of Pine Grove has been arrested in connection with a plot to frame his former girlfriend by planting controlled substances in her vehicle, which resulted in her arrest by police. The Jackson woman was arrested last month when police, acting on a tip, searched her car in a Jackson parking lot and found multiple pills of Ecstasy, or MDMA, a controlled substance. A male caller claimed he had observed the woman purchase the illegal drugs and provided police with a specific description of the vehicle and its location.

A follow up investigation by an experienced agent from the Amador County Combined Narcotics Enforcement Team determined the evidence pointed in a direction away from the woman as a suspect and, in fact, indicated she was the victim of a set-up. The investigation led to Massaro, who admitted his involvement and explained how he had purchased the pills and drove them to the woman’s place of work where he planted them in her vehicle. Massaro told the agent he waited until the woman left work before he called the police to report the alleged crime. Massaro now faces several felony counts, including false imprisonment by fraud and deceit and transportation and possession of controlled substances. Massaro posted a 20,000 dollar bond for release from jail and is scheduled to appear in Amador County Superior Court on August 8, 2008. The District Attorney’s Office has declined to file any charges against the woman based on all the facts of the case.