4 ARRESTED IN HILLSBOROUGH DRUG BUST

TAMPA - Inside the Ruskin home, the two men quickly cut marijuana with a
machete and slipped the contents into 1-pound bags.

Outside, the smell of marijuana flowed onto the streets as Hillsborough
County sheriff's detectives waited to complete their three-month investigation.

Authorities disrupted the point of distribution Monday night by entering
the home at 904 Madison St. S.W., finding an estimated 1,500 pounds of
marijuana and arresting Israel Gomez and Enrique Balderas, both of Ruskin.

The investigation then led detectives to a truck stop at County Road 579
and Interstate 4 in Thonotosassa, where they arrested two men who had
brought the marijuana from McAllen, Texas, to Ruskin in a tractor- trailer,
sheriff's Chief Deputy David Gee said. The men arrested at the truck stop
were James Cecil Dodd and Javier Trevino, both of Madison, Texas.

People throughout Central Florida visited the Ruskin home, where they could
purchase a pound of marijuana for $800 to $1,000, Gee said. The 1,500
pounds found in the home Monday night was valued at $1.3 million.

But that was only part of what had been delivered Monday. It's believed 500
to 700 pounds had been distributed by the time the arrests were made, Gee said.

Investigators said there is an increase in marijuana smuggling into
southern Hillsborough County.

More arrests are expected as officials look for the head of the operation,
Gee said.

Gomez and Balderas were charged with trafficking in marijuana and
conspiracy to traffic in marijuana. Both Dodd and Trevino were charged with
two counts of trafficking in marijuana. Bail for each was set at $20,000.

Gomez and Balderas posted bail and were released Tuesday, sheriff's records
show.