Three men arrested last year in connection with a major
marijuana bust in South County left the San Benito County
Courthouse Wednesday as free men after the district attorney
dismissed the multiple felony charges against them and absolved
their bail.
Hollister – Three men arrested last year in connection with a major marijuana bust in South County left the San Benito County Courthouse Wednesday as free men after the district attorney dismissed the multiple felony charges against them and absolved their bail.
The three men, none of whom are San Benito County residents, were charged with five felonies last August, – including possessing a stolen police handgun and cultivating marijuana – after they were found near the entrance to a large marijuana garden in the Hernandez Dam area. The men were arrested during a drug raid, in which law enforcement agents destroyed nearly $60 million worth of marijuana plants.
Juventino Torres Delgado, 20, Armando Torres Delgado, 27, and Javier Valencia, 31, were out on bail after spending six days in jail last August. But they were relieved to hear that the charges against them had been dismissed, said local defense attorney Greg LaForge, who represented Armando Delgado.
“My client was happy to see justice done,” LaForge said. “The grandstanding that the District Attorney and law enforcement did went up in a big ball of flames this morning.”
But District Attorney John Sarsfield said the charges were dismissed only in order to give his staff more time to investigate the case.
“It’s not dismissed and they’re exonerated,” he said. “Our plan is to re-file against all three of them once our investigation is complete.”
Before it’s finished, Sarsfield said he could not comment on the nature of the investigation. The investigation will likely be completed within the next few weeks, he said.
And Sarsfield refuted LaForge’s comments, saying he never aggrandized the arrests or the drug raid.
“We don’t get worked up over marijuana cases,” he said. “Our focus is on gun violence, gang violence and domestic violence.”
San Benito County Sheriff Curtis Hill, who helped organized the August marijuana raid, wasn’t concerned that the charges had been dismissed.
“My philosophy is find the weed, take them to jail and if we can get some convictions all the better,” he said. “But the message is clear, citizens don’t want marijuana growing in San Benito County.”
In August, the marijuana bust and arrests made headlines in local newspapers as well as several television news programs, LaForge said.
“Law enforcement had their 15 minutes of fame at my client’s expense,” LaForge said.
All three men pleaded not guilty to the charges shortly after being arrested.
A fourth man, 28-year-old Las Vegas resident Seth Lee Bennett, was also arrested with the other suspects during the August raid but was never charged. During a search of the vehicle the four men had been driving, police found a loaded 9mm handgun stolen from a Las Vegas police sergeant.
Local defense attorney Harry Damkar, who represented Juventino Delgado, was not surprised by the dismissal.
“I think this case was trumped up from the beginning,” he said. “There were no fingerprints found at the scene matching our clients, they had no marijuana, they just happened to be out on the road that (law enforcement officials) were staking out.”
Damkar believes Armando Delgado, Juventino Delgado and Valencia had been in the Hernandez Dam area scouting out a spot for a future hunting trip and were in the wrong place at the wrong time, he said. He also believes the gun belonged to Bennett, the only one of the four suspects from Las Vegas.
Juventino Delgado’s reaction to the dismissal was a mixture of relief and irritation, Damkar said.
“He was pleased that the charges were dismissed,” Damkar said. “But he was frustrated that he had to spend thousands of dollars to defend himself, stay out of jail and keep his job.”
Valencia’s attorney Arthur Cantu was also pleased with the dismissal.
“We knew that once the investigation into the case was complete my client would be exonerated,” he said.
Although Sarsfield has up to three years to re-file the charges and prosecute the men, LaForge is convinced that the case is closed.
“I’m not concerned about re-filing, because my client is innocent,” LaForge said. “They’re not going to win this case – that’s why they dismissed the charges.”
Brett Rowland covers public safety for the Free Lance. He can be reached at 831-637-5566 ext. 330 or [email protected].
