FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE	CONTACT: Lauren Horwood
February 27, 2012	PHONE: (916) 554-2706
www.usdoj.gov/usao/cae	usacae.edcapress@usdoj.gov
Docket #: 1:10-cr-0379 AWI

FRESNO, Calif. — United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced that today Chief United States District Judge Anthony W. Ishii sentenced Jorge Reyes, aka Rodrigo Hernandez, 34, of Arvin, to six years in prison for his involvement in a conspiracy to grow marijuana in the Sequoia National Forest. He was also ordered to pay $4,093 for the cost to clean up the trash, water lines, and other items at the site.

According to court documents and proceedings, Reyes transported and supplied materials and equipment to a site in the Sequoia National Forest where approximately 4,375 marijuana plants were growing. This area had been used by other marijuana cultivators in the past. In addition to the debris, the native vegetation was cut down, and there will be additional expense to restore the land to its natural state. Reyes will be subject to deportation to Mexico upon completion of his prison term.

Reyes’s three co-defendants were sentenced in 2011 to prison terms of five years and 10 months, three years and one month, and two years and three months.

The case is the product of a six-month investigation conducted by the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Land Management, the Kern County Sheriff’s Department, the Bakersfield Police Department, and the Taft Police Department. Assistant United States Attorney Karen Escobar prosecuted the case.

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