MARIJUANA GROWER SENTENCED TO 10 YEARS

One of the men arrested by the Payson-based Gila County Drug Task
Force during an August 2005 raid on a marijuana growing operation near
Strawberry was sentenced Friday to 120 months in jail.

The raid on Calf Pen Canyon was one of seven that drug
agents conducted last summer on illegal growing operations in Gila and
Coconino counties.

"Not only are they growing illegal drugs, they present a danger to
hikers and the environmental damage they cause is tremendous," an
agent said. "These operations are a definite threat to the public."

Oscar Nunez-Medina, 41, was arrested last summer after he was
discovered tending a garden that contained more than 19,000 plants
with a street value of $30 million.

Following a plea-agreement, he was sentenced July 28 in Federal Court
by Judge James A. Teilborg.

United States Attorney District of Arizona public affairs officer Ann
Harwood said Nunez-Medina would likely serve his sentence in one of
three Federal Correctional Institutions in Arizona -- in West Phoenix,
Tucson or in a minimum security prison in Safford.

Three others arrested with Nunez-Medina -- Jesus Castillo-Malendrez,
31, Gerardo Manzo-Pulidgo, 19, and David Valenza-Gonzalez, 28 -- await
sentencing. All are residents of Mexico.

The raid on Calf Pen Canyon was one of seven that drug agents
conducted last summer on illegal growing operations in Gila and
Coconino counties.

This summer they have stormed growing fields near Horton Creek and
Camp Geronimo, eradicating over 9,000 plants with a street value of
more than $9 million.

Agents say they expect to do more raids this summer and
fall.

This year's investigations and raids have been a cooperative effort of
the GCNTF, Dept. of Public Safety, Gila County Sheriff's Office, U.S.
Forest Service, DEA, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Arizona
Game and Fish Department.

The raids usually take place with the help of a DPS Ranger helicopter
and a SWAT team.

Gila County Sheriff John Armer said the investigations and arrests
demonstrate "the success of the federal grant programs that provide
funding for federal and state task forces."

DEA Special Agent in Charge Tim Landrum said international drug
traffickers exploit America's own back yards to cultivate thousands of
marijuana plants, hoping to line their pockets with millions in drug
profits.

"Our eradication means that tons of marijuana never made it to our
neighborhoods and millions of dirty dollars never made it into the
drug trade," he said.

Local GCNTF agents have said they believe those tending the gardens
are worker bees only and the Mexican drug cartel is behind the illegal
drug trade.

Agents believe that some of those overseeing the gardens are often
working off debts, usually to coyotes who have brought them, or their
families, into the United States illegally.