Man sentenced for operating a marijuana grow on national forest land near Highway 36
A Corning man was sentenced Thursday for growing thousands of cannabis plants and manufacturing marijuana in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Fidel Sanchez-Cruz, 42, received 11 years and three months in prison, and has to pay $19,354 in restitution for conspiring to grow marijuana and damaging public land, U.S. Attorney Phillip Talbert said in a Department of Justice announcement.
In August, 2018, law enforcement officers destroyed 6,575 marijuana plants, a processing operation and harvested marijuana near Highway 36 in Trinity County. They also found a .40 caliber Smith & Wesson handgun with the serial number removed, an ammunition cartridge, pellet rifles and a loaded Smith & Wesson magazine, said Talbert, paraphrasing court documents.
Under Sanchez-Cruz' supervision, the operation did “extensive damage” to the forest environment, Talbert said, paraphrasing a report by the nonprofit organization Integral Ecology Research Center.
Workers used and dumped pesticides, fertilizers and other chemicals. “Hazardous wastes found at the grow site included carbofuran, a toxic pesticide” banned nationwide. It and other pesticides and fertilizer put at risk threatened and endangered species, "including the northern spotted owl, the foothill-yellow-legged frog and coho salmon," Talbert reported.
Note to readers: We’ve made this story free as an important public service. If you are able, help power local journalism. Subscribe to the Redding Record Searchlight.
Growers also stole more than 14.25 million gallons of water, illegally diverting it using plastic irrigation lines and creating reservoirs for storage, he said.
Law enforcement officers also found 24 grams of cocaine, 3.96 pounds of marijuana, marijuana seeds and a Winchester 20-gauge shotgun at Sanchez-Cruz’s Corning home on Aug. 17, 2018, Talbert said.
“Sanchez-Cruz oversaw the operation from a distance, while co-defendants Abraham De Los Santos-Sanchez and Agustin Cruz-Sanchez lived at the grow site from April to August, 2018,” he said.
Santos-Sanchez and Cruz-Sanchez were each sentenced to 10 years in prison: Santos-Sanchez on June 18, 2020, Cruz-Sanchez on March 9, Talbert said. They both pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to manufacture marijuana. Cruz-Sanchez also pleaded guilty to a charge of depredation of public lands and resources, he said.
The U.S. Forest Service investigated the case with help from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, California Highway Patrol, the California Department of Justice’s North State Marijuana Investigation Team, Trinity and Tehama counties sheriffs’ offices, and Corning and Red Bluff police departments, according to Talbert’s announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorney David Spencer prosecuted the case, he said.
Jessica Skropanic is a features reporter for the Record Searchlight/USA Today Network. She covers science, arts, social issues and news stories. Follow her on Twitter @RS_JSkropanic and on Facebook. Join Jessica in the Get Out! Nor Cal recreation Facebook group. To support and sustain this work, please subscribe today. Thank you.
This article originally appeared on Redding Record Searchlight: Man sentenced for growing marijuana in Shasta-Trinity National Forest
