Time served for suspects found with ton of marijuana on Starr County ranch

Three men have been sentenced for time served after being arrested in 2021 after federal agents found a ton of marijuana hidden inside the roof of a recreational vehicle on a Starr County ranch.

Hector Ivan Garza-Garcia, of Falcon Heights, and brothers Roberto Amadeo Ramos-Resendez and Leonel Amadeo Ramos-Resendez, both of Mier, Mexico, were each sentenced on Thursday to the two-and-a-half years they spent in custody awaiting the resolution of their case.

This sentence will run concurrently with a state case. The details of that case weren’t immediately clear.

They were arrested after U.S. Border Patrol and Drug Enforcement Administration agents and investigators in collaboration with the Starr County Sheriff’s Office obtained a search warrant for the property where they discovered 2,157 pounds of marijuana after an investigator pulled over a Chevrolet Silverado driven by Leonel Amadeo Ramos-Resendez.

The owner of the ranch had initially been arrested, but federal prosecutors dropped the charges.

The property was located at 2672 U.S. Highway 83 in Salineño. It was close to the Rio Grande and Border Patrol agents who had it under surveillance saw bundles of marijuana being unloaded there.

All three of the men who were in the Silverado during the traffic stop were detained and transported to the sheriff’s office while Border Patrol agents set up a perimeter, according to the complaint.

The ranch’s owner approached the agents and said he was the property owner and granted them permission to search his property. Agents, however, informed him they had a search warrant.

Authorities then entered the recreational vehicle and found tampering on the frame molding of the interior walls.

Investigators searched for an access point and removed an AC unit on the roof where they found the false compartment masked with false walls full of more than a ton of marijuana.