FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE	CONTACT: Lauren Horwood
February 21, 2011	PHONE: (916) 554-2706
www.usdoj.gov/usao/cae	usacae.edcapress@usdoj.gov
Docket #: 1: 11-cr-223 AWI

FRESNO, Calif. — United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced that Rigoberto Martinez Chavez, 28, of Exeter, was sentenced today by United States District Judge Ishii to one year in prison for cultivating marijuana. He will be turned over to immigration officials for deportation proceedings when that prison term is completed. 

In his December 12, 2011 guilty plea before United States District Judge Ishii, Chavez admitted to manufacturing over one hundred marijuana plants. According to court documents, Chavez and seven other people were arrested on June 15, 2011 while working at a Kern County marijuana cultivation site outside McFarland containing approximately 2,462 marijuana plants and numerous purported medical marijuana authorizations.

This case is the product of an investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Kern County Sheriff’s Department. Assistant United States Attorney Kevin Rooney prosecuted the case.

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