FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE	CONTACT: Lauren Horwood
April 6, 2012	PHONE: (916) 554-2706
www.usdoj.gov/usao/cae	usacae.edcapress@usdoj.gov
Docket #: 2:11-CR-442 GEB

                SACRAMENTO, Calif.– United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced that Keith Andrew Baia, 42, a resident of Florida, pleaded guilty today to growing over 100 marijuana plants.  His codefendant, Jody Weber Stewart, 41, also a resident of Florida, pleaded guilty to the same charge on March 30, 2012.  The guilty pleas were entered before United States District Judge Garland E. Burrell, Jr.
  
                According to court documents, the marijuana growing operation took place during 2010 and 2011, and was located inside a warehouse at 19847 Riverside Drive, in Anderson, CA.  Shasta County Sheriffs Deputies obtained and executed a state search warrant at the location on March 14, 2011.  Inside they found 974 marijuana plants in a sophisticated grow operation.  Calendars and other paperwork found in the warehouse indicated that the growing operation had been in existence for approximately a year.  A notebook containing what appeared to be handwritten lecture notes on how to set up a commercial indoor marijuana operation was found inside the warehouse.  Ironically, the notebook contained notations warning about federal drug laws and federal prosecutions for growing marijuana.
  
                Agents from the Redding Field Office of the Drug Enforcement Administration assisted in the search and the case was eventually transferred to federal court.   Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Bender is prosecuting the case.

                Stewart is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Burrell on June 15 and Baia is scheduled to be sentenced June 22.  The defendants face a maximum statutory penalty of 40 years in prison and a minimum mandatory sentence of 5 years in prison.  The actual sentence, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.

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