Tulare County Marijuana Cultivator Convicted

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 FRESNO,Calif. — The third of nine defendants charged over the summer in connectionwith a large marijuana cultivation operation in Alpaugh, pleaded guilty pleatoday to participating in a drug conspiracy, U.S. Attorney Benjamin B. Wagnerannounced.
Accordingto the plea agreement, Eliazar Castellanos–Gutierrez, 26, of Colima, Mexico,conspired to manufacture, distribute, and possess with intent to distributemarijuana. In pleading guilty, Castellanos acknowledged that he was foundgrowing marijuana on a 20–acre parcel of agricultural land in the small farmingcommunity of Alpaugh in Tulare County. Castellanos admitted that he had paid$3,000 to the landowner, Saul Morales, 48, of Alpaugh, to grow 899 marijuanaplants for purportedly medical use. Castellanos admitted that he neverconsulted with a doctor and is not sick. According to his plea agreement, hewas "just using his medical marijuana recommendation to make money."Law enforcement officers seized 4,011 marijuana plants and several firearmsfrom the property, which was owned and occupied by Saul Morales and his wife,Juliana Garcia–Torres, 54, who are also charged.
Castellanosis scheduled for sentencing before U.S. District Judge Lawrence J. O’Neill onFebruary 19, 2012. He is subject to deportation upon completion of any term ofimprisonment that is imposed. Castellanos faces a mandatory minimum penalty offive years in prison and a maximum of 40 years in prison, along with a $5million fine. The actual sentence, however, will be determined at thediscretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutorysentencing factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into accounta number of variables.
EzidoroHurtado–Cerillos pleaded guilty on October 1, 2012; he is scheduled to besentenced on December 17, 2012. The remaining co–defendants are scheduled for astatus conference in federal court in Fresno on December 3, 2012. Theallegations against them are only accusations and they are presumed innocentuntil and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
Thiscase is the product of an investigation by the U.S. Drug EnforcementAdministration, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) HomelandSecurity Investigations (HSI), and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms,and Explosives. It was initiated by the Tulare County Sheriff’s Department. Thecase is part of Operation Mercury, a six–county law enforcement initiativefocusing on marijuana cultivation operations on agricultural land. AssistantUnited States Attorney Karen Escobar is prosecuting the case.