Sacto 9-1-1

Two Sacramento men have pleaded guilty to structuring cash transactions from marijuana sales to avoid reporting requirements.

Keni Renta, 29, and Jauwon Pierre Wilder, 28, entered the pleas today in federal court in Sacramento, according to a federal Department of Justice news release.

In 2011, Renta was in the business of interstate sale of marijuana, obtaining a majority of his supply from California growers, according to court documents. He took orders from out-of-state individuals, primarily in the Midwest and Northeast. These buyers paid him by depositing cash in bank branches in other states for accounts in Renta's name or that he controlled.

The El Dorado County Sheriff's Department announced one arrest and the seizure of more than $236,000 in cash, assault weapons and marijuana plants in a drug trafficking case that extended to Florida, Virginia and North Carolina.

The Western El Dorado County Narcotics Enforcement Team began the drug trafficking investigation Friday and discovered that a suspect in North Carolina was under investigation by authorities in that state for sales of marijuana, according to a Sheriff's Office news release. Several other suspects in other states also were involved in the sales and distribution of marijuana that was being shipped from suspects in the El Dorado County area, officials said.

Over the next three days, narcotics enforcement team detectives investigated and served several search warrants at locations, including 3873 Destiny Lane in Shingle Springs and 1161 Kathy Lane north of Placerville.

In a news conference this afternoon, Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones formally introduced his new anti-gang "Impact Division," and announced preliminary results from the team's efforts.

Since the division began its work in January, gang detectives assigned to the division have seized more than 100 guns, some of which are pictured at left, and arrested nearly 125 suspects, Jones said.

In addition, deputies have seized 4.3 pounds of cocaine, 153 pounds of marijuana, 29 grams of heroin and almost a pound of methamphetamines, Jones said.

"Can I say we've beaten the gang problem? No," said Jones, flanked by commanders from partnering agencies. "We have a lot of work to do."

But Jones said he has high expectations for the division and believes it is off to a strong start.

"Hopefully it gives people optimism we are taking the youth violence problem seriously," Jones said.

Last fall, the Sheriff's Department was awarded a $11.3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Justice's COPS Office. The money was to fund a collaborative anti-gang approach that Jones said he began crafting after he took office in 2010.

The division is made up of 31 sheriff's employees and 10 officers from outside agencies. Those partnering with the Sheriff's Department are: Police departments from Elk Grove, Citrus Heights, Rancho Cordova and Galt; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation's Special Service Unit; Immigration and Customs Enforcement; and homeland security.

Jones also announced a new tipline for information about gang-related activity. The tipline is also designed for youths who want help getting out of the gang life, Jones said. That number is (855) 2NO-GANG, or (855) 266-4264.

"It's never too late to turn around," Jones said.

To those who have no interest in changing their habits, Jones had a message: "We will find you, we will identify you, and we will arrest you."

The division has a three-pronged approach: gang suppression, intelligence and youth outreach. To read more about the Impact division, go here.

Photos show some of the guns seized by members of the Sacramento County Sheriff's Impact Division. Photo by Bee staff writer Kim Minugh.

A former Folsom State Prison correctional officer was sentenced today in Sacramento Superior Court for possession of marijuana for sale.

Ryan Coma and his co-defendant Vietmy Nguyen each received a sentence of 150 days in county jail, plus five years of formal probation, according to a Sacramento County District Attorney's Office news release. In addition, they must register as drug offenders and will be subject to search and seizure with probable cause. Violation of probation could result in a sentence of up to three years in county jail under the new Criminal Justice Realignment Law.

On Aug. 22, 2011, Folsom State Prison investigators were following 30-year-old Coma because of rumors that he had been smuggling drugs, tobacco and cell phones into the prison, according to the news release. Coma was seen entering a vehicle belonging to Vietmy Nguyen, whose brother was an inmate at Folsom Prison.

Sacramento County sheriff's officials arrested five suspects and seized a cache of illegal firearms and marijuana plants during an operation in Wilton this morning.

Deputies assigned to the "Impact Division" - the agency's grant-funded gang unit - and the SWAT team served a search warrant at a home in the 9800 block of Clay Station Road about 7 a.m. today, said sheriff's Deputy Jason Ramos.

Inside the home, deputies found indoor and outdoor marijuana cultivation operations, and evidence to suggest the marijuana was being sold, Ramos said. They also recovered a dozen guns, including a modified assault weapon with a high-capacity magazine.

According to Ramos, arrested were Dang Hang, 39; Lo Saechao, 36; Kou Vue, 32: Jimmie Mue, 29; and Yer Yang, 28. They face a variety of charges, including illegal possession of an assault weapon, tampering with identifying marks on a firearm, unlawful manufacturing of a high-capacity magazine and possession of marijuana for sale.

Sacramento County sheriff's narcotics detectives today arrested five people in connection with an interstate marijuana distribution operation.

Taken into custody were Keni Renta (pictured, top left), 29; Jauwon Wilder (top center), 28; Charles Wilson (top right), 34; Nathan Curry (bottom left) , 35; and Maryann Hunter (bottom right), 25. All were booked into the Sacramento County Main Jail on suspicion of possession of marijuana for sale, cultivation of marijuana and conspiracy to distribute marijuana.

In October 2011, sheriff's detectives began an investigation along with the U.S. Postal Service and the Financial Crimes Task Force of the Internal Revenue Services. The investigation focused on a group of people who appeared to have laundered more than $1 million in cash deposits into fictitious business and personal accounts, according to a Sheriff's Department news release. The deposits were made in states on the East Coast, then withdrawn the following day in Sacramento.

A Santa Barbara County man was sentenced today in federal court in Sacramento for his involvement in marijuana growing operations in El Dorado County.

Ryan Louis Ennis, 39, of Buellton was sentenced by U.S. District Judge John A. Mendez to nine years for conspiring to cultivate marijuana.

In sentencing, Judge Mendez described Ennis as the leader and financial backer of a sophisticated, well-funded marijuana operation, saying that he provided marijuana to distributors on the East Coast, according to a federal Department of Justice news release.

A federal grand jury in Sacramento has indicted a Trinity County man on marijuana conspiracy and cultivation charges, months after a series of raids resulted in the seizure of more than 2,700 pot plants.

According to a criminal complaint, William Robert Barsanti, 26, who was indicted Thursday, bragged to local sheriff's deputies that he could beat any charges against him because he was protected under California's medical marijuana laws.

Trinity County authorities referred the case to federal prosecutors after 2,769 marijuana plants and five pounds of pot were seized in two raids in August and another in September on three properties owned by Barsanti, according to Sacramento U.S. Attorney Benjamin Wagner.

Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent Christopher DeFreece wrote in an affidavit that Barsanti, of Hayfork, told deputies who arrested him that he was a legal "caregiver" who was growing marijuana for 30 medical users in addition to supplying California dispensaries.

"Barsanti...stated that he would never be convicted of growing marijuana because six out ten people in Trinity County grow marijuana and that is who would be in the jury," DeFreece wrote. The DEA agent also wrote that "Barsanti continued to say that Trinitry County was a joke and he was going to beat the charges against him."

As a result of the federal indictment, he faces trial in Sacramento federal court.

In response to a court order, the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department this afternoon returned two pounds of medicinal marijuana to a dispensary from which it was seized earlier this month.

A Sacramento Superior Court judge this morning ordered the Sheriff's Department to return the marijuana to the Common Roots Collective.

On Dec. 1, deputies accompanied code enforcement officers who executed an inspection warrant at the dispensary on 52nd Street in Sacramento, said the collective's attorney, John Fuery.

A Sacramento man is in jail accused of endangering the health of a child after he and a companion were found smoking marijuana in a car with the man's 2-year-old son.

Sacramento police officers on routine patrol spotted a suspicious vehicle in the 7600 block of Denise Street in the Meadowview area shortly before 6 p.m. Wednesday. Officers contacted the two adults inside but didn't notice the child at first because marijuana smoke in the vehicle was so heavy, according to the police activity log.

JC Monroe, 24, was arrested and booked into Sacramento County Jail, on suspicion of child endangerment. Monroe's companion was not arrested because both adults had medicinal marijuana cards, said Officer Laura Peck, police department spokeswoman.

A Sacramento man was arrested by Placer County sheriff's deputies after he was found passed out in a car that was full of stolen property, illegal drugs and drug paraphernalia.

Deputies were called to the Walgreen's parking lot on Douglas Boulevard in Granite Bay about 11:40 a.m. Thursday. When they arrived, they found Yevgeniy Gorlachev, 24, slumped over in the driver's seat with the engine running. He woke up when deputies asked him if he was OK, according to a Sheriff's Department news release.

Officials said a search of the vehicle turned up heroin, a syringe, a glass pipe with methamphetamine inside, and marijuana and a pipe stashed in the fuse box.

Five Sacramento-area men have been indicted in connection with a marijuana trafficking conspiracy.

A federal grand jury in Sacramento today returned a 23-count indictment charging Thomas Holzmann, 24, Peter Holzmann, 23, and Joseph Andrade, 24, all of West Sacramento, as well as Jonathan Sherman, 27, of Sacramento, and Eddy Arevalo, 29, of the El Dorado County community of Somerset, with conspiring to cultivate and distribute marijuana, and various other drug offenses.

Sherman also was charged with multiple counts of structuring and money laundering. Structuring occurs when large sums of currency are broken up and deposited in amounts less than $10,000 to avoid filing reports required by federal law, according to a federal Department of Justice news release.

Four suspected marijuana patch growers were arrested after they ran from law enforcement officers in southern Sacramento County.

State Department of Justice marijuana investigation team agents conducting surveillance came upon the seven suspects who fled from them this morning near Interstate 5 and Hood-Franklin Road.

Four of the suspects were caught. The Sacramento Sheriff's Department aided the DOJ in finding the other three.

The names of five men arrested last week in connection with the shooting death of 45-year-old He Ting Fu in Amador County have been released by the Amador County Sheriff's Department.

All were arraigned Friday in Amador Superior Court, and Judge David Richmond ordered them held in Amador County Jail without bail, according to a Sheriff's Department news release.

The men were identified as Andrew Minh Manisap , 18 (photo, top row, left), Michael Saechao, 20 (top center), David Van Tai, 22 (top right), and Vu Xuan Tran, 23(bottom left), all of Sacramaento, and Son Thai Nguyen, 19 (bottom right), of Elk Grove.

Folsom police announced today that an approximately six-month investigation resulted in the arrest Thursday of three Sacramento residents believed to be connected with a majority of the heroin that has been coming into Folsom.

Search warrants were served at multiple locations and turned up and estimated $22,000 worth of drugs, police said.

Shamia Ingram (left photo), 31, and Jermaine Ellison (center photo), 40, were arrested after three-quarters of a pound of tar heroin was recovered at their home in the 7400 block of Winkley Way in Sacramento's Meadowview neighborhood, according to a Police Department news release. Marijuana and commonly abused prescription medications were also recovered, along with $5,600 in cash.

With the destruction of a marijuana garden on private property near the Butte County line earlier this week, the Yuba County Sheriff's Department reports that more than 25,000 marijuana plants have been eradicated in the county this year.

The department's Marijuana Eradication Team disposed of nearly 2,000 marijuana plants from a grow near Rackerby on Monday, according to a Sheriff's Department news release.

The illegal garden, believed to belong to a drug trafficking organization, was located about a half-mile from the Butte County line. Officials said it was on private property, several hundred feet from Bureau of Land Management property.

Liquor-related arrests were up, drug arrests were down and assaults pretty much held steady last year on UC Davis property compared to the previous year, according a press release from the university.

The annual statistics were prepared for the federal Clery Act.

"UC Davis is a relatively safe campus, but no community of our size is crime-free," said campus Police Chief Annette Spicuzza.

Comparisons between 2010 and 2009:

Another instance of violence has occurred in connection with a marijuana grow -- this time in Rancho Cordova.

Rancho Cordova police said that just before 11 p.m. a Sacramento County Sheriff's deputy heard gunshots ring out near Coloma Road and Ranchito Court. While deputies searched for the source of the gunshots, they were waved down by a man with a bleeding hand.

One man is dead and five others are under arrest following a Tuesday night shootout at the site of a commercial marijuana growing operation in rural Amador County.

The Amador County Sheriff's Office received a call at 9:10 p.m. Tuesday from a resident on Carbondale Road who reported hearing several gunshots. At 9:18, a second caller reported hearing 15 to 20 gunshots. One of the callers reported seeing a white full-sized extra cab truck and dark-colored sport utility vehicle leaving the property where the gunshots originated.

Deputies spotted the two vehicles traveling southwest on Carbondale Road. The vehicles took off at high speeds when occupants spotted patrol cars. Deputies lost sight of the white truck as it turned onto Michigan Lone Bar Road but overtook the second vehicle, a green Expedition.

A Placerville teen was in juvenile hall Tuesday, a day after filing a report that he was hit by an SUV while riding his bike to school.

The boy, who suffered a possible shoulder separation and other injuries, apparently rode his bike into a parked car, said Placerville Police Capt. Mike Scott.

The boy concocted the hit-and-run story to cover that he had been with friends, using marijuana, Scott said.

Nevada County Sheriff's detectives found $18,000 and more than 5 pounds of marijuana in a car after surveillance in a Nevada City park, officials reported.

The Sheriff's Narcotics Task Force was watching activity in Callahan Park after taking complaints of drug activity.

After observing a drug transaction, they stopped a car and conducted a search of the vehicle, finding $18,000 in cash, the marijuana, an unspecified amount of methamphetamine, a meth pipe and a scale.

Officers arrested Charles Mason, 30, and Wendylyn Clemens, 24, both of Nevada County.

Two men with handguns held up a Redding marijuana collective Friday, taking an unspecified amount of marijuana and a laptop computer, Redding police reported.

The robbery at the Nothern Patients Group took place around 7:30 p.m.

A 21-year-old employee of the collective told police the men entered, forced an interior door and confronted him with guns - a long-barrel revolver and a semi-automatic handgun.

State Department of Justice officials said agents took down a drug trafficking organization on Wednesday, arresting 10 people.

A four-month investigation led to the arrests. The alleged drug trafficking organization targeted by the DOJ's Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement spread over six counties, including Sacramento, Placer and El Dorado.

Major marijuana grow sites were found in El Dorado, Shasta and Napa counties. Thousands of plants, several firearms and two pounds of crystal methamphetamine were seized.

Search warrants were issued, including seven for structures in Placer, Sacramento and Butte counties, a DOJ spokeswoman said.

UKIAH, Calif. -- Law enforcement officials say they've concluded a massive raid of illegal marijuana grows on public lands in the heart of Northern California's pot country, and it netted 132 arrests.

Read the full story here.

A 57-year-old South Lake Tahoe man has been arrested on a variety of charges, including possession of an obscene photo, according to police.

Jim Zamosky (photo right) was booked into El Dorado County Jail on charges of supplying marijuana to a minor, being a felon in possession of a firearm and posession of obscene matter, police said.

Five Oroville men have been indicted by a federal grand jury in Sacramento for participating in marijuana cultivation and distribution.

The grand jury Thursday returned a six-count indictment charging the men for conspiring to cultivate marijuana and ship it to New York.

A man from Michoacan, Mexico, has been sentenced to prison for cultivating marijuana on public land.

Nemesio Reyna Ortega, 20, was sentenced in Sacramento by U.S. District Judge Morrison C. England Jr. to three years and one month in prison.

According to court documents, law enforcement agents raided a marijuana-growing operation in a rural area of Tehama Count on Aug. 6, 2010, arresting Ortega and co-defendant Jose Pelayo, 37, also from Mexico. Agents found 5,344 marijuana plants at the grow site, according to a federal Department of Justice news release.

By Sam Stanton
sstanton@sacbee.com

Isleton's planned marijuana farm may be dead, but officials from the Delta hamlet are alive and kicking, and they are not bowing to the findings of a recent grand jury probe of their town.

In a 52-page response to the Sacramento County grand jury investigation, Isleton officials say the panel's report on the planned marijuana project was filled with errors, ignored important facts and needlessly cost the cash-strapped town $100,000 to defend itself.

"Despite hearing testimony from twenty witnesses, the grand jury's eleven page report contains more than fifteen material errors of fact," the report from Isleton City Attorney Dave Larsen and other city officials states.

Auburn police say they arrested a Placer County man Thursday after receiving a report at 1:09 p.m. that the suspect was selling marijuana out of a five gallon bucket at the Auburn Dam Overlook.

Auburn police officer Stan Hamelin used the license plate of the vehicle associated with the suspect to locate David S. Robles, 21, of Auburn, at his home on Live Oak Lane in Placer County, according to a police department news release.

The department said Robles was wanted on a warrant for a D.U.I. offense. Hamelin found Ketamine, or the "Date Rape" drug, in Robles' possession, along with a .45 caliber handgun, a switchblade, and hashish, the news release said.

The officer followed a lead to a storage facility where he found more marijuana, the release said.

Robles is being held in Placer County Jail for possession of the gun, knife, narcotics and narcotics for sales.