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Marijuana raid sets record

Tiffany Tuell

(Updated: Thursday, July 29, 2010, 12:00 AM)

A multi-agency marijuana eradication operation held Tuesday resulted in the arrest of three Mexican nationals and recovered 25,242 plants from two grows located between Coarsegold and Oakhurst.

Some plants had already been harvested but had the majority of plants reached maturity in early September, they would have netted nearly $76 million.

This number surpasses the recent 18,100 plant eradication in Coarsegold, making this the largest number of marijuana plants eradicated on private land in Madera County.

"It's always a success when you make arrests behind the eradications," said Lt. Darin McMechen, Madera County Sheriff's Department.

The growers were living in a mobile home located on the same private property as the grows. Two of the Mexican nationals were arrested at the mobile home in the early morning hours by Drug Enforcement Administration officials without incident. The third was scared out of a grow and was caught running toward the mobile home.

Also recovered at the mobile home were a 12-gauge shotgun, a 22-caliber rifle, and2 pounds of processed marijuana.

Arrested were: Paulv Bentancourt Jr., 22, from Michoacan, Mexico, who was captured with a Mexican ID card with a Modesto address; Rigoberto Soto, 38, from Guanajato, Mexico, a tourist area three hours northwest of Mexico City; and Jose DeJesus Rodriguez Rodriguez, 36, of Guanajato, Mexico, a Guatalajaro Army reservist who completed active duty in 1996.

Also on the property at the time of the arrests were two females and five children.

The three arrested could be facing federal drug charges, which render a larger sentence if convicted.

According to a Madera Narcotics Enforcement Team spokesman who wishes to stay anonymous, the money growers make from these marijuana grows is used to further their cocaine and methamphetamine operations.

"We have three growers in custody. We got marijuana off the streets, and we confiscated weapons," said MADNET's spokesman. "We're doing what's important."

Last year, according to MADNET, 7 million plants were eradicated state-wide last year. "These are sophisticated growing operations," a MADNET spokesman said. "They take the marijuana and move it all across California and the nation."

According to Madera County Sheriff John Anderson, 94% of marijuana grown in the United States is grown in California.

"We've got so many open lands in California and public lands with National Forest and an ideal climate," Anderson said. "They need four things to grow: a remote area, water, sunshine and four months. They can get all those things up here."

District Attorney Michael Keitz said even if marijuana was legalized, it wouldn't stop drug trafficking operations like this one because they are too big, but Keitz did say that Madera County is getting a fair chunk of the illegally grown substance.