FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE	CONTACT: Lauren Horwood
April 16, 2012	PHONE: (916) 554-2706
www.usdoj.gov/usao/cae	usacae.edcapress@usdoj.gov
Docket #: 1:10-cr-00313 LJO

            FRESNO, Calif. — United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced that United States District Judge Lawrence J. O’Neill sentenced Juan Garcia-Galvez, 38, of Merced, and Praxedis Barragan, aka Jorge Barragan-Morales, 40, of Winton, today to 2 years in prison for conspiring to cultivate, distribute and possess with intent to distribute marijuana.

            According to court documents, in 2010, Garcia-Galvez and Barragan conspired with Ramon Torres-Arreola, aka Ramon Torrez, aka Alejandro Torres-Arida, 39, formerly of Livingston, and others to grow marijuana on private ranch land in the Bailey Flats area of Raymond in Madera County. Law enforcement officers eradicated 3,451 marijuana plants from the cultivation site. The same area has been the site of other marijuana cultivation operations in the past. Law enforcement officers eradicated 1,228 marijuana plants from there in 2009 and 3,847 marijuana plants from there in 2010. These cultivation operations were all conducted without the permission or knowledge of innocent landowners.

            Co-defendant Torres‑Arreola was sentenced on April 2, 2012 to two years and three months in prison. All three men are subject to deportation to Mexico.

            This case is the product of an investigation conducted under the umbrella of Operation Trident by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Department of Homeland Security’s Enforcement and Removal Operations, the Madera County Narcotic Enforcement Team (MADNET), and the Madera SWAT team. Operation Trident was a multi-agency marijuana enforcement effort conducted in Madera, Fresno, and Tulare Counties in 2009 and 2010. To date, 74 federal defendants have been convicted as a result of Operation Trident, which eradicated approximately 663,898 marijuana plants primarily from public lands in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and foothills in the Eastern District of California. Assistant U.S. Attorney Karen A. Escobar prosecuted the case.

####

 

Return to Top