United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner
Eastern District of California
Lamont Man Pleads Guilty To Assisting In Pot Grow On Public Land
| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | CONTACT: Lauren Horwood |
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March 19, 2012 |
PHONE: (916) 554-2706 |
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www.usdoj.gov/usao/cae |
usacae.edcapress@usdoj.gov |
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Docket #: 1:11-cr-358-AWI |
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FRESNO, Calif. — United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced that Javier Aranda-Barrajas, 32, of Lamont, pleaded guilty plea today to facilitating a large marijuana cultivation operation on public land through the use of his telephone.
According to the guilty plea, a California Fish and Game warden found Aranda-Barrajas last October about two miles from a marijuana-cultivation site in the Sentinel Peak area of the Sequoia National Forest in Tulare County. Aranda-Barrajas was assisting in the grow operation that had been disrupted the day before by federal, state, and local law enforcement officers. As a result of the enforcement action at the Sentinel Peak grow site, law enforcement agents found more than 16,205 marijuana plants, more than 850 pounds of processed marijuana, and three firearms, including an assault rifle. Native vegetation was cut to make room for the marijuana plants. Trash and fertilizer containers were scattered throughout the site, including in a flowing stream. Aranda-Barrajas has agreed to pay restitution to the U.S. Forest Service $3,686 for the cleanup costs.
This case is the product of an investigation by the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Bureau of Land Management, the Southern Tri-County High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA), the California Department of Justice Campaign Against Marijuana Planting (CAMP), the California Department of Fish and Game, and the Tulare County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant United States Attorney Karen Escobar is prosecuting the case.
Aranda-Barrajas, who has been detained as a flight risk and danger to the community, is scheduled for sentencing on June 25, 2012, before Chief U.S. District Judge Anthony W. Ishii. He faces a maximum prison term of four years and a $250,000 fine. The actual sentence, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory sentencing factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.
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