Leopoldo Deniz-Ochoa, 27, Noe Isreal Cardenas-Delgado, 34, Andres Casillas-Alvarez, 54, and Jose Casillas-Castaneda, 29, were arrested for cultivating 12,556 marijuana plants on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land near the Big Sandy Wash, south of Wikieup. The four Mexican nationals made an initial appearance in Phoenix before U.S. Magistrate Judge Lawrence O. Anderson on July 12, 2012.
All four men have been charged with one count of conspiracy to cultivate marijuana plants on federal land and one count of cultivation of marijuana on federal land. According to the complaint, law enforcement officers discovered several marijuana cultivation areas near the Big Sandy Wash after receiving a tip from hunters. The cultivation areas were equipped with an irrigation system, which included generators to pump water to man-made reservoirs that were lined with plastic and camouflaged with cut vegetation and debris. Water was gravity fed from the reservoirs to the cultivation areas through irrigation piping. Marijuana plants were then watered through dripping pipes, which were located throughout the cultivation areas.
A conviction on each count in the complaint carries a maximum penalty of life in prison, a $10 million fine, or both.
The investigation leading to these arrests was conducted by the Bureau of Land Management, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Border Patrol, and the Mohave Area General Narcotics Enforcement Team.