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Immigration See other Immigration Articles Title: Largest pot bust in Wash. state history thrown out of court Largest pot bust in Wash. state history thrown out of court 10:04 AM PDT on Tuesday, April 12, 2005 OLYMPIA, Wash. -- Ruling that police did not have probably cause to arrest them, a judge has thrown out federal drug charges against three illegal aliens from Mexico who were arrested last summer during what is believed to be the largest marijuana seizure in state history. The men were brothers Ricardo and Mario Sahagun Rodriguez, and Francisco Hernandez Davila, all from the Mexican state of Jalisco. The defendants were the only people charged in connection with the discovery of more than 65,000 marijuana plants on tribal land near Satus Pass, about 15 miles north of Goldendale. The size of the operation stunned even the most experienced narcotics agents. The street value was conservatively estimated at $35 million. U.S. District Judge Lonny Suko made his decision in March. The case was scheduled to go to trial on Monday. The ruling gutted the federal government's case because much of the evidence was tainted by the illegal arrests. Court records showed the operation was discovered in stages in August by Klickitat County sheriff's deputies on a routine marijuana flyover. A combination of 10 sites straddling both sides of U.S. Highway 97, the operation was unnoticeable except from the sky. The Rodriguez brothers were picked up on the second to last day of an eradication effort that involved dozens of agents, National Guard trucks and a pair of helicopters ferrying tons of uprooted marijuana plants the size of Christmas trees in cargo nets. Lawyers said the men were stopped while walking along the highway. Authorities had been contacting anyone they spotted in the area, including motorists who stopped on the highway. The Rodriguez brothers told agents they were hitchhiking from Hillsboro, Ore., to Prosser and had been dropped off by a motorist named Jose after an argument. Neither spoke much English. Agents decided to arrest the men after a lengthy contact in which they seized a cell phone belonging to the brothers as well as what was described as divining or water witching rods. The third defendant, Davila, was arrested minutes later while stopped along the highway in a minivan. Authorities theorized Davila was waiting to pick up the Rodriguez brothers. Lawyers for the defendants argued the arrests lacked probable cause because authorities had no right to continue to detain the Rodriguez brothers for 30 or 40 minutes after an initial pat-down for officer safety. The lawyers said the authorities had no suspects at the time and that the sudden appearance of the Rodriguez brothers was not enough to justify the extended contact, including the seizure of the cell phone. The judge agreed and subsequently suppressed much of the evidence in the case. No other arrests have been made in connection with the case. Arrests in illegal outdoor grows are the exception to the rule. Agents usually just destroy the plants and move on. All three defendants have been deported to Mexico.
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