FRESNO, Calif. — 49-year-old Maximiliano Farias Martinez was sentenced to five years and 10 months in prison for conspiring to cultivate marijuana on public land. the Department of Justice announced.
According to court documents, Farias supervised Jose Manuel Sanchez Zapien, 39, who delivered supplies in Farias' to growers at a marijuana cultivation site in the Sequoia National Forest.
Officials said that they found approximately 20,952 marijuana plants at the site which also caused extensive environmental damage and stripped approximately three acres of vegetation.
Farias was ordered to pay $8,664 in restitution to the Forest Service to cover the cleanup cost. Sanchez plead guilty to the drug conspiracy and was sentenced to 10 years as well as ordered to pay restitution.