Eugene, Ore –Jose Rodriguez Santana, 24, of Michoacan, Mexico, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court by the Honorable Michael R. Hogan to 84 months in prison and a five-year term of supervised release. Rodriguez Santana had earlier entered a guilty plea to manufacturing approximately 3,654 marijuana plants.
While conducting a coordinated marijuana eradication operation in July 2007, the Douglas County Interagency Narcotics Team, Oregon State Police, and the South Coast Interagency Narcotics Team discovered a covert marijuana grow operation in a remote forested area of Coos County. After a period of clandestine surveillance by law enforcement officers, a search warrant was executed on the marijuana garden, and Rodriguez Santana was arrested at a campsite in the grow. Items seized from the crime scene included a Mac-90 semiautomatic rifle with a loaded 30 round magazine, cell phones, drug records and a disposable camera with film depicting the defendant and others standing amongst the marijuana plants while holding the assault rifle.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kirk Engdall.
