Pubdate: Wed, 28 Oct 2009
Source: East Valley Tribune (AZ)
Copyright: 2009 East Valley Tribune.
Contact:  http://www.eastvalleytribune.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2708
Author: Mike Sakal, Tribune
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)

33 ARRESTED; RING MOVED MARIJUANA IN BACKPACKS

A traffic stop made by a Pinal County sheriff's deputy in Case Grande
nearly a year ago has helped dismantle a drug-running operation that
employed workers delivering marijuana in backpacks on foot from Mexico
to Pinal County for various Mexican drug cartels.

During a press conference in Phoenix, Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu,
Attorney General Terry Goddard and Drug Enforcement Agency officials
announced 33 arrests in connection with the operation, including its
ringleader, and the seizure of a number of stash houses that were
raided throughout southwestern Pinal County with the assistance of
Mesa and Tempe police SWAT teams on Oct. 14.

The investigation began 10 months ago, soon after a traffic stop was
made on Dec. 8 in the Maricopa area that involved a search and seizure
of $228,000 in cash, according to Babeu. That traffic stop later
allowed investigators to make connections to home invasions and
kidnappings throughout the county as part of the ring's operations,
Babeu said.

Twenty-one vehicles, including a phony FBI car the ring was using, two
tons of marijuana, about $418,000 in cash and nine firearms also were
seized in connection with the operation authorities described as a
transportation organization and the largest drug bust in Pinal County
history.

The investigation is ongoing and has returned 21 indictments so far on
drug trafficking and money laundering charges, including ringleader
Roberto Hernandez, 39, of Arizona City, who owns Chateau Construction
and Tri-Valley Stucco in Casa Grande.

"We've taken out an entire transportation system," Goddard said. "This
group was quite violent in the way they treated their opponents.
Marijuana was their ticket into the U.S. If we can break the link from
border to distribution, drug smuggling operations are in jeopardy."

The workers would carry 50 to 100 pounds of marijuana in backpacks
into the U.S. through a porous region along the Mexico-U.S. border
sometimes for as long as a 10-day trek after stopping at the Tohono
O'odham Indian reservation in southern Arizona before moving on to
Pinal County. Carrying the marijuana in backpacks is a noticeable
trend in how drugs are being smuggled into the U.S.

Pinal County teenagers were recruited to meet the workers and drive
the drugs to stash houses, Babeu said. Those involved in the operation
are a mixture of U.S. citizens and illegal immigrants from Mexico,
authorities said.

"This happened because of good police work and cooperation," Babeu
said of the takedown. "We were able to cripple a very elaborate
network, and this is only scratching the surface. It is becoming
increasingly violent."

The ring had been in business for three years and distributed and sold
an estimated 60,000 pounds of marijuana a year for various Mexican
drug cartels throughout Pinal County, the East Valley and nationally,
according to Babeu and Goddard. The revenue generated millions of
dollars returning to Mexico and helped to fund violence between drug
cartels.

In addition to the current charges, several lead defendants also face
charges of conspiracy to commit armed robbery relating to their
alleged scheme to impersonate law enforcement officers so they could
rob and possibly murder competing drug traffickers in the southern
Arizona desert, according to authorities. The phony law enforcement
vehicle the ring had in its arsenal had been altered to look like a
police car and contained a hat with "FBI" written on the front.

Among others arrested in connection with the operation: Johnny Calvin,
43; David Chavez, 21; Judy Monarraz-Pena, 28; Fernando
Orona-Magallanez, 27; and John Rodriguez, 38.

Elizabeth Kempshall, special agent in charge for the Drug Enforcement
Agency, said that the takedown was a major victory against drugs being
brought into the U.S.

"This isn't like it was 20 years ago," Kempshall said. "By cooperation
between local, state and federal law enforcement agencies and through
the sharing of intelligence and techniques, we're able to take out
these organizations and show them they can't hide." 
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