Pubdate: Tue, 15 Jan 2008 Source: Modesto Bee, The (CA) Copyright: 2008 The Modesto Bee Contact: http://www.modbee.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/271 Author: Michael Doyle, Bee Washington Bureau Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?115 (Marijuana - California) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine) DRUG-WAR WIN NETS REWARDS FOR COPS WASHINGTON -- The White House this week is saluting the Central Valley investigators who busted Merced resident and suspected big-time marijuana dealer Arnoldo Herrera. The statewide, monthslong campaign against Herrera was dubbed Operation Plumas Smoke by law enforcement officers. The White House drug czar's office calls it the outstanding group investigative effort of 2007, one of several drug-fighting awards to be presented Thursday to the valley's local, state and federal investigators. "We did real well," said Bill Ruzzamenti, director of the Fresno-based Central Valley High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area. "We do well every year." The HIDTA coordinates anti-drug efforts in a nine-county region from Sacramento to Bakersfield. On Thursday, officers will pick up four group awards and two individual awards from the Office of National Drug Control Policy. The White House office provides the nonmonetary awards as a morale booster for officers involved in the Bush administration's National Marijuana Initiative. "They are taking on what some people think are just harmless hippies up in the hills, but who are really Mexican drug-trafficking organizations," Scott Burns, deputy director of the Drug Control Policy office, said Monday. "It's important to reward and acknowledge their exceptional service." Several dozen valley law enforcement officers will attend the ceremony being held at the Treasury Department. The six drug-fighting awards going to Central Valley law enforcement officers are among 40 national awards being presented. "This is one aspect of our drug control policy that's been effective," Burns said. Wiretap key to operation Operation Plumas Smoke kicked off in June. Supervised by Brent Wood of the California Department of Justice's Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement, investigators located a dozen major marijuana gardens scattered throughout Santa Clara, Butte, Plumas and Humboldt counties. A wiretap on Herrera's phone led investigators to identify other conspirators, according to a summary of the investigation. "As each of his gardens was eradicated, Herrera got more and more distraught," a sum-mary of the operation stated, further alleging that Herrera eventually became a marijuana broker for other growers. Over several months, the investigators said they seized 101,439 mature marijuana plants and 297 pounds of processed mari-juana, along with firearms and $50,000 in cash. In October, investigators concluded the operation with the arrests of 14 people. Herrera is in the Fresno County jail, awaiting trial on charges that could send him to federal prison for the rest of his life. Jerry Adams, who set up a Central Valley "marijuana intelligence fusion center," and intelligence analyst Jill Edwards, who helped start the center in late 2004, are receiving individual awards. "She gets hundreds of calls and e-mails from federal or local drug agents asking her to validate an obscure piece of information that might be a key link in the jigsaw puzzle world of investigating (drug dealers)," an award summary states. Congress established the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area program in 1988 as a way to target federal funding and coordinate efforts in specific regions. It started with five designated areas, including Los Angeles. Since then, often at the behest of lawmakers, 28 drug trafficking areas have been designated, covering 13 percent of all U.S. counties. The Central Valley HIDTA began in 1999, targeting methamphetamine production. It has shifted more attention to large-scale marijuana operations. "The Mexican-based organizations that were involved in meth have now fled to Mexico," Ruzzamenti said. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake