U.S. INDICTS 6 SUSPECTS FROM SAN BENITO POT FARM

The U.S. Attorney's Office has indicted six of 10 men arrested from
Sept. 8 through Sept. 11 on suspicion of cultivating marijuana in a
remote region in southern San Benito County, District Attorney Harry
Damkar said Monday.

Drug enforcement officers reported uprooting nearly 50,000 marijuana
plants near San Benito Mountain. The bust was one of the largest in
state history, they said.

The suspects, all from the Madera area, are Miguel Angel Gutierrez,
23; Higinio Vasquez Montes, 27; Sergio Vasquez Montes, 25; Jose Ruelas
Rodriguez, 49; Fernando Flores Hernandez, 30; and Jose Juan Garcia,
22.

Four other men pleaded guilty to being accessories. They served 60
days in county jail and were turned over to immigration authorities,
Damkar said. They are Alejandro Sandoval, 22; Jesus Mendoza, 27;
Abelardo Alvarez, 23; and Antonio Lopez Mendoza, 18.

Authorities were alerted by a hunter this summer of suspicious
activity near Cantua Creek on federal Bureau of Land Management
property near the Fresno County line.

Surveillance showed that marijuana was being grown extensively in the
area.

The defendants initially were charged by San Benito County, but the
charges were dismissed in deference to the federal indictment, Damkar
said.