DiMatteo in jail on bribery, drug charges

One-time South Lake Tahoe pot club owner and current Push Fitness owner Gino DiMatteo was arrested Aug. 31 on charges of bribing a public official and possession of drugs for sale.

DiMatteo was arrested at the Bank of America branch in South Lake Tahoe. As of 5:25pm he was still being processed at the jail in Placerville. Bail information was not available.

Gino DiMatteo

Search warrants were executed just before noon on Friday at Push Fitness, DiMatteo’s South Lake Tahoe home and at his bank.

El Dorado County District Attorney’s Office is the lead agency. They sent a press release after 5pm today – the Friday of a three-day weekend — alerting the media to the arrest. The person to contact – District Attorney Vern Pierson’s secretary – had left for the day.

South Lake Tahoe Police Chief Brian Uhler and City Manager Nancy Kerry deferred comments to the DA’s Office – even though those people don’t answer their phones after hours.

It is not known what public official DiMatteo is accused of bribing, what the alleged bribe was for, what he was allegedly trying to sell, and what if anything was confiscated from the places the cops searched.

— Kathryn Reed