Feds Seek To Indict First Pot Suspect

DAYTON - Federal authorities have asked a grand jury to indict the first of three suspected marijuana growers arrested earlier this summer in the Umatilla National Forest, according to the Columbia County Prosecutor's Office.

If successful, the grand jury request would take the case against Mexican national Santiago Orozco Contreras out of the state court system and place it on a federal docket, possibly leading to a much longer sentence for the suspect arrested during a raid on federal land in mid July.

"As I understand it, they have requested the indictment, but we'll know more tomorrow," said Julie Karl, assistant to County Prosecutor Rea Culwell.

A representative of the U.S. Attorney's Office Eastern District of Washington in Spokane said he could not confirm the indictment request because of the secretive nature of grand jury proceedings, but he did indicate his office has an interest in Columbia County's marijuanagrowing cases.

"We are reviewing a number of marijuana grows in Columbia County to see whether the suspects should be prosecuted (by the U.S. Attorney)," said Earl Hicks, an assistant U.S. Attorney.

Orozco's arrest in the Cold Creek area in July was followed by the arrest in August of Jose Meraz Farias and Martin Chipres Madriz in the Eckler Mountain area.

Karl said Culwell's office just sent information about Farias and Madriz to the U.S. Attorney's Office, indicating that their indictment might soon be sought by federal authorities as well.

Contreras pleaded not guilty several weeks ago to charges of manufacturing marijuana and being an undocumented alien in possession of a fire arm. Federal authorities reportedly are seeking his indictment on the fire arms charge initially while they are gathering more details about the marijuanagrowing operation.

Farias and Madriz were in Columbia County Superior Court last week. Farias pleaded not guilty, but Madriz did plead guilty, acknowledging that he "knowingly" engaged in the manufacturing of marijuana and possessed a fire arm without authorization. Both are Class C felonies that carry maximum sentences of half a year and a year respectively.

In court, Culwell asked Judge William Acey not to accept Madriz's guilty plea as his case and those of the others might soon transfer to the federal level.

Acey said Madriz has a right "not to contest" the charges, but the judge set the Mexican national's sentencing far enough into the future to allow the U.S. Attorney's Office to make its move and take the case. Under an indictment, the same charges could land the suspects in prison for as long as five years.

The three arrests came amidst a series of raids by local, state and federal law enforcement officials over the summer that uncovered grows with almost 37,000 pot plants with an estimated street value of $38 million in four different locations.