Kern County Man Sentenced For Marijuana Cultivation In Sequoia National Forest

FRESNO, Calif. — Russell Lee Riggs, 69, of Weldon, was sentenced today to five years in prison for conspiring to manufacture, distribute and possess with intent to distribute marijuana grown in the Sequoia National Forest, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.

The sentence was imposed following his guilty plea in June. According to court documents, Riggs delivered supplies and material to a marijuana cultivation site containing over 3,000 marijuana plants in the Fay Creek drainage in the Sequoia National Forest. He also received and removed processed marijuana from the site. Springs were dammed and diverted to irrigate the marijuana plants and large amounts of trash were scattered throughout the site, including in a flowing stream. Law enforcement officers also seized marijuana cultivation equipment and supplies, over $7,000 in cash, 16 firearms and over 2,000 rounds of ammunition at the site and during follow-up searches of Riggs’s residence and that of co-defendant Juan Penaloza-Ramirez, 46, a native and citizen of Mexico.

In sentencing Riggs, U.S. District Judge Dale A. Drozd also ordered Riggs to pay $1,719.31 to the U.S. Forest Service for the damage to public land and natural resources caused by the cultivation activities. He also ordered the forfeiture of the seized firearms and ammunition.

Penaloza-Ramirez pleaded guilty and was sentenced in June to serve seven years and three months in prison.

This case was the product of an investigation by the U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Southern Tri-County High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) task force, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, California Department of Justice’s Campaign Against Marijuana Planting (CAMP), and Kern County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Karen Escobar prosecuted the case.