Mexican Jailed In Mountain Pot Raid

DAYTON - Federal, state and local law enforcement officials on Monday seized 2,000 marijuana plants with a street value of $3 million from a grow in the upper Tucannon River drainage in the Umatilla National Forest after they arrested a suspect at a nearby location last week.

Santiago Orozco-Contreras, 41, a Mexican national with a last known address in the Tri-Cities, was booked into Columbia County jail on Thursday on suspicion of possession of a firearm and of manufacturing marijuana.

The arrest was made in the same general area of the national forest where officials have been finding pot grows for the past three years, Sheriff

Walt Hessler said.

He wouldn't comment further, saying the investigation into the illegal mountain marijuana growing operation is ongoing and may lead to more police actions.

Orozco, who was charged late last week and held on $150,000 bail, will be arraigned at 1: 30 p. m. on Thursday, July 28. But there is a good chance he will be indicted by a federal grand jury, which could impose a much longer sentence for the same charges than a county court can.

"This is good break for law enforcement," County Prosecutor Rae Culwell said. " When a grow is found, there's no manpower to stake it out 24/7, so they're lucky they got this guy."

A multi- agency team that included the Columbia County Sheriff 's Office, the U.S. Forest Service and the Washington State Patrol pulled the marijuana plants Monday during the execution of a warrant obtained by the county and the Forest Service authorizing the investigation of a camp at the location where Orozco was arrested on Thursday.

The raid took place on U.S. Forest Service land, hence the possibility federal officials may press charges against Orozco. If convicted locally, he would face about 12 months in jail. If indicted and convicted by a grand jury, he could serve as many as five years, Culwell said.

Not much is known about the suspect, who is said to speak some English and seemed resigned to his capture during a brief appearance in court last week, Culwell said.

Court documents show a special agent for the Forest Service stumbled on Orozco in the Cold Creek area when the agent was conducting a reconnaissance mission to locate a pot grow turned in by a member of the public last year.

The Mexican was dressed in a camouflage shirt and hat washing clothes in a makeshift shelter, when the agent announced his presence with a loud "police" warning.

Orozco immediatel y "looked up, saw (the agent), and his right hand went to his hip in a manner consistent of someone attempting to draw a fire arm from a holster," according to the documents.

The agent pointed his weapon at the suspect and told him to put his hands up, prompting Orozco to comply immediately. He was wearing a .380-caliber pistol and had a knife sheath on his right side.

Orozco was detained and consented to have the area searched after other officers walked around the makeshift shelter and noticed pot plants about 20 feet away. The special agent later walked up a well-worn trail leading up the drainage and observed several hundred additional marijuana plants plus black water lines leading from Cold Creek to the growing area.

Last summer, law enforcement officials found and destroyed 4,600 marijuana plants with an estimated street value of $11 million in the upper Tucannon drainage where they had found 11,000 of the plants in 2008. No arrests were made at the time.