Lyon County Sheriff's Office Busts Marijuana Grow Operation Tied to Mexican Cartels

The Lyon County Sheriff’s Office and a host of other law enforcement agencies combined to serve two search warrants Wednesday morning in Stagecoach and Silver Springs and arrested 10 people they say were involved in a large marijuana growing operation tied to Mexican drug cartels.

The search warrants were served on two properties, one off of Break-A-Heart Rd. in Stagecoach, between U.S. 50 and the Carson River, and the other off 9th Street in Silver Springs.

LCSO Chief Deputy Mitch Brantingham said a months-long investigation culminated at around 8:30 Wednesday morning with more than 65 law enforcement officers conducting an operation code-named October Surprise and resulted in the seizure of more than 1,700 marijuana plants and 1,300 pounds of processed marijuana, as well as multiple firearms and ammunition.

Investigators also say that large sums of U.S. currency received as profits of marijuana sales had recently been sent from this operation directly to Mexico.

The people arrested were:

• Graciela Madrigal, 54
• Rocio Ibarra, 32
• Eddiberto Alvarez, 38
• Efren Sanchez, 18
• Angelito Mojica, 47
• Adriel Sanchez-Tapia, 27
• Norbert Flores-Sanchez, 19
• Bartolo Ibarra-Silva, 22
• Misty Wagoner, 53
• William Shepard, 59

All of the suspects were booked on the charges of trafficking in controlled substances: marijuana or concentrated cannabis (over 1,000 lbs.); possession of a controlled substance for sale; unlawful cultivation of marijuana, maintaining a place for unlawful sale, gift or use of the controlled substance; and prohibited person in possession of a firearm.

Each person is being held on a total bail of $70,000.00.

The search warrants were served simultaneously at the two locations. Brantingham said each operation was located on about 10-acre parcels with residences and structures. He said the marijuana was being grown in hoop houses, with eight hoop houses in one location and five or six in the other. Both properties were purchased last November.

“They were harvesting those, what appears to be a year-round operation,” Brantingham said.

Brantingham said the suspects ran but were caught using drones, K-9s, and by visual observation and coordination between the different SWAT teams at both scenes.

“We’re currently working on getting all these folks identified and working with immigration to make sure we get people put in the right places and we get the federal partners that we need to involved in this case to get it broken down,” he said.

Brantingham said they are working through the seizure process to sort through all of the property that was seized.

“We’re going to everything we can to make sure that property gets recovered for the public and that we’re not turning it back over to the cartels and we’re doing everything we can to dismantle these operations,” he said.

The Lyon County Sheriff’s Office was assisted in the operation by the Carson City Sheriff’s Office SWAT, Douglas County Sheriff’s Office SWAT, Central Lyon County Fire Department, United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), United States Department of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Nevada State Police Investigations Division, Nevada Cannabis Compliance Board and Battleborn Medivac.

LCSO said the investigation is ongoing, which may result in further charges as each scene is processed.

“I can’t stress enough the involvement of those federal agencies to make sure that as the ties of this investigation go out into other regions, that we’re able to lump all that stuff together and get a good prosecution on the case,” Brantingham said.

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