FRESNO - Maximiliano Farias-Martinez (Farias), 49, a Mexican national residing in Stevinson, pleaded guilty today to conspiring to cultivate marijuana, U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced. According to court documents, Farias supervised Jose Manuel Sanchez-Zapien (Sanchez), 38, of Dos Palos, who delivered supplies to growers at a marijuana cultivation site in the Sequoia National Forest. The drop point has been used numerous times in the past to supply marijuana growers in the Slick Rock Creek drainage. Law enforcement officers found over 20,000 marijuana plants at the site.
The cultivation operation caused significant damage to public land. Approximately three acres were stripped of vegetation and the ground was terraced to accommodate the marijuana plants. Large amounts of ammonium nitrate and other fertilizers were found at the site. Insecticide containers were found scattered around the site and trash was scattered throughout the grow site. The cost to clean up the area is $8,665. Farias has agreed to make restitution to the Forest Service in that amount.
Two Condemned Inmates’ Deaths Being Investigated as Suicides
SAN QUENTIN – California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation officials are investigating the deaths of two condemned inmates that occurred over the weekend. On Friday night at about 11:15 p.m., staff found Andrew Urdiales, 54, unresponsive during a security check in the Adjustment Center. Correctional officers performed CPR. Urdiales was pronounced dead at 12:01 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 3.
Urdiales was sentenced to death on Oct. 5, 2018, by an Orange County jury for the first-degree murders of 23-year-old Robbin Brandley who was attacked as she walked to her car following a concert on Jan. 18, 1986, at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo; 31-year-old Maryann Wells on Sept. 25, 1988, in San Diego; 29-year-old Julie McGhee on July 17, 1988, in Cathedral City; 20-year-old Tammie Erwin on April 16, 1989, in Palm Springs; and 32-year-old Denise Maney on March 11, 1995, in Palm Springs. The murders occurred when Urdiales was stationed at various U.S. Marine Corps facilities in Southern California.
Madera Man Shot & Killed at Wedding Reception; Detectives Search for Witnesses
FRESNO - Around 10:00 pm on Saturday, dispatchers at the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office received a report that gunshots had been fired and a person was hit. Deputies responded to a home on the 2600 block of S. Marks Ave in Fresno. There they found an outdoor wedding reception taking place.
As deputies pulled up, guests made up of both adults and children, began leaving in vehicles. A small number of guests stayed at the scene. Deputies were directed to the gunshot victim, who was a Hispanic man in his 30s. Deputies and EMS personnel provided medical treatment to the man, but he died at the scene.
Man Sentenced To 10 Years For Conspiring To Commit Murder In Aid of Racketeering
FRESNO - William Lee, 41, of Fresno, was sentenced today by Chief U.S. District Judge Lawrence J. O’Neill to 10 years in prison for conspiracy to commit murder in aid of racketeering, U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced. According to court documents, the defendant conspired with other members of the Dog Pound Gangsters (“DPG”) enterprise to kill a rival gang member for the purpose of gaining or maintaining status within the DPG organization.
DPG is a criminal street gang based in southwest Fresno. DPG engaged in criminal activities, including conspiracy to commit murder in aid of racketeering, prostitution, drug trafficking, and access device fraud. After DPG member and co-defendant Kenneth Wharry was shot by rival gang members, Lee and others conspired to conduct a retaliatory shooting against rival gang members. The conspiracy culminated in an April l7, 2018, shooting at Fink White Park in Fresno, where a DPG member opened fire in the park.
Federal Court Strikes Down Two California Statutes As Unconstitutional
SACRAMENTO - The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California entered orders in two cases during the last two weeks declaring California statutes unconstitutional because they discriminated against the United States in violation of the United States Constitution. The cases are United States v. California, No. 2:18-cv-721, and United States v. Kernen Construction, 2:17-cv-1424.
In United States v. California, decided yesterday, the court struck down California Senate Bill 50 (“SB 50”), enacted in October 2017 for the express purpose of “discourag[ing]” conveyances of federal land. The statute provided that any conveyance of a property interest in federal land would be void unless the State Lands Commission was given a right of first refusal over government proposals to sell federal land.
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