A federal grand jury has indicted three men in relation to the seizure of more than a ton of marijuana in Starr County in late October, while prosecutors dismissed the charges against the owner of the ranch where the drugs were found hidden in a recreational vehicle.
The two-count indictment charges Hector Ivan Garza-Garcia, a 38-year-old Falcon Heights resident, and brothers Leonel Amadeo Ramos-Resendez, a 35-year-old Roma man, and Roberto Amadeo Ramos-Resendez, a 35-year-old man from Mier, Mexico, with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance from July to Oct. 28 and with possession with intent to distribute 2,157 pounds of marijuana.
The trio was arrested Oct. 27 after Border Patrol, Drug Enforcement Administration agents and investigators with the Starr County Sheriff’s Office found the marijuana hidden in the roof of a recreational vehicle on a ranch at 2672 US-83 in Salineño, which is northwest of Roma.
That ranch is owned by 39-year-old Rio Grande City resident Roberto Muñiz Jr.
On Thursday, federal prosecutors filed a motion to dismiss the charges against him, saying they didn’t wish to prosecute him at this time, which U.S. Magistrate Judge Juan F. Alanis approved on Friday, court records indicate.
A complaint said that Muñiz’s ranch had been under surveillance by Border Patrol agents who reportedly saw bundles of suspected marijuana being unloaded there.
Authorities obtained a search warrant after conducting a traffic stop on a Chevrolet Silverado driven by Leonel after he allegedly disregarded a stop sign. Roberto and Garza were in the vehicle during the stop and a Starr County sheriff’s investigator reported finding signs of drug smuggling in the vehicle, such as brown tape, the smell of marijuana and its residue.
While this was happening, Border Patrol set up a perimeter around the ranch and that’s when Muñiz approached the agents, saying he owned the property.
According to the complaint, he told them they could search the property, but Border Patrol informed him they were waiting for a search warrant.
When Border Patrol, DEA agents and the sheriff’s investigators searched the property, they entered the recreational vehicle and found the frame molding of the interior walls showed signs of tampering.
“Investigators then searched for an access point which lead them to the AC unit located on the roof of the trailer,” the complaint said. “Ultimately, investigators removed the AC unit and discovered an access point to a false compartment masked by false walls.”
Garza and the Ramos-Resendez brothers are all being held without bond pending the resolution of their case because they are in the United States illegally and have significant ties to Mexico.
They are scheduled to be arraigned on the charges late next week.
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