Law enforcers swooped in, cut down the massive crop with machetes, arrested four crop tenders and found lots of items left behind – illegal pesticides, a makeshift kitchen, sleeping bags, candles and crosses, lots of trash. And, they seized cell phones that turned out to be a critical catalyst for the investigation.

Two years later, “Operation Mountain High” has morphed into a complex and groundbreaking case involving extensive wiretaps, video cameras mounted in the middle of nowhere and arrests of elusive higher-level marijuana traffickers who manage large-scale grows on public lands.

Investigators were able to use the cell phones to connect the players through wiretaps and other electronic surveillance techniques – moves that took the case far beyond the typical chance discovery of a single outdoor grow and the arrests of low-level grow workers. Fourteen phone lines were tapped for almost six months, producing hundreds of hours of intercepted conversations that were key to building the case.

A task force of local, state and federal law enforcement officials on Tuesday arrested six of 10 people charged. All are believed to be mid- to high-level managers in the drug trafficking organization. Agents searched 15 locations associated with the organization in El Cajon, Lakeside and Valley Center in San Diego County and Temecula, Perris and Hemet in Riverside County. They seized 12 firearms, $237,000 in cash and 13 vehicles and 300 pounds of processed marijuana, ready for sale, with a street value of more than $300,000.

And, in the two-year probe they seized more than 45,000 marijuana plants during raids of eight farms in Julian, Valley Center, Pala, Palomar Mountain, Cleveland National Forest and Riverside.

“With these arrests and raids, we have eradicated a marijuana drug trafficking organization that had hijacked our forests and parks,” said U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy. “We are not going to hand over our pristine public lands to gun-toting narco-farmers who destroy the landscape and harm the environment with pesticides so toxic that they are banned in the U.S.”

“This investigation represents one of the most comprehensive investigations ever undertaken in this county specifically targeting outdoor marijuana cultivation,” said William Sherman, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration in San Diego, which was the lead agency on the investigation. “This was a sophisticated group of traffickers who had no regard for California’s Federal and State public lands, and the damage that was done to these areas in their quest to make money. DEA/NTF and our law enforcement partners hit this organization at every level and have succeeded in putting them out of business for good.”

Clark Beene, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which oversees public lands and had a key role in the case, said, “The BLM is committed to ensuring that public lands are a safe place for the 9.1 million people who visit them in California each year, as well as a safe place for BLM employees to do the work they need to do in the field to manage these lands for the American public. Marijuana cultivation on public lands in California continues to be a significant threat to the environment as well, including impacts to water quality when growers divert streams or use potent fertilizers that leach into groundwater.”

Sheriff Bill Gore commented, "This is one of the most extensive marijuana growing investigations in the United States. We utilized sophisticated resources and multiple agencies to track money from this drug trafficking organization in Mexico to San Diego and other destinations in the western U. S.  The rural area of San Diego County is much safer today with these drug traffickers and their weapons removed from our communities."

San Diego Police Chief Bill Lansdowne said: “The San Diego Police Department, as one of the founding members of the Narcotics Task Force, recognizes the importance of collaboration and the sharing of law enforcement resources to impact the illegal narcotics trafficking in San Diego.  This 2 ½ year investigation brings to light the sophistication of drug trafficking organizations working in the greater San Diego area.  The service of the 13 search warrants and two additional voluntary searches underscores the size of the organization.”

N. Dawn Mertz, Acting Special Agent in Charge commented: “When money and the criminal distribution of marijuana intertwine for illicit profit, the financial expertise of IRS Criminal Investigation (CI) is available to unravel money laundering activity.   While DEA and other law enforcement agencies focus on the drug trafficking component, IRS CI will focus on the movement of the drug profits. IRS CI is united with the rest of law enforcement in our resolve to financially dismantle the criminal distribution of marijuana.”

Officials believe the traffickers are part of a much larger criminal operation based in Mexico. According to court documents, the drug trafficking operation used undocumented workers smuggled into the U.S. to tend to the marijuana crops.

The organization manufactured and distributed marijuana in locations throughout southern and central California, and had links to other marijuana grows in Northern California, Utah and Idaho.

The defendants are scheduled for arraignment Nov. 14 in federal court in San Diego at 1:30 p.m. before U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara L. Major. The charges are only allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

U.S. Attorney Duffy praised the coordinated effort of the law enforcement agencies of the San Diego Narcotic Task Force culminating in the charges filed in this case. The Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force ("OCDETF") program was created to consolidate and utilize all law enforcement resources in this country’s battle against major drug trafficking.

The DEA San Diego Field Division’s Narcotics Task Force (NTF) is large multi-agency Task Force, consisting of approximately 100 sworn law enforcement agents and officers for 18 different local, state and federal agencies.  The mission of the San Diego Narcotics Task Force is to dismantle the most significant mid to high-level organizations and bring to justice the organizations’ principle members involved in narcotics trafficking, growing, manufacturing and money laundering in Southern California.

The case is being investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department, the Bureau of Land Management, the San Diego Police Department and the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigations.  U.S. Attorney Duffy also noted the assistance of the Customs and Border Protection-United States Border Patrol, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department and the U.S. Forest Service.

An indictment or a complaint are not evidence that the defendants committed the crimes charged.  The defendants are presumed innocent until the Government meets its burden in court of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.           

DEFENDANTS                                Criminal Case No. 12mj4116
Daniel Malaquias-Mendoza
Antioco Sotelo-Ayala
Jose Villa-Garcia
Francisco Villasenor-Ortiz
Miguel Mendoza-Mendoza
Juventino Artemio-Sotelo
John Philip Lombardo
Adrian Chavez-Garduno
David Chavez-Garduno
Roberto Valencia-Martinez

SUMMARY OF CHARGES
Title 21, United States Code, Section 846 and 841(a)(1)  B Conspiracy to Manufacture Marijuana
If convicted, the defendants face a penalty of 10 years to life

INVESTIGATING AGENCIES

Drug Enforcement Administration
Bureau of Land Management
San Diego County Sheriff’s Department
San Diego Police Department
IRS Criminal Investigations

Documents

Complaint Document ...

Photos

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