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TRENTON - Attorney General Anne Milgram and Criminal Justice Director Gregory A. Paw announced that the owner of a trucking company was sentenced today to state prison for running a marijuana growing facility in the basement of his Old Bridge home. In addition, two employees were sentenced to prison for conspiring to distribute marijuana.
According to Director Paw, Rigoberto Leyva, 36, of Old Bridge, was sentenced to seven years in state prison, with 3 ½ years of parole ineligibility, by Superior Court Judge Frederick P. DeVesa in Middlesex County. Leyva’s two employees, Yosvani Broche, 32, of West Palm Beach, Fla., and Onel Montes-Deoca, 31, of East Brunswick, were each sentenced to five years in state prison.
All three defendants had pleaded guilty on Jan. 31 before Judge DeVesa. Leyva pleaded guilty to a first-degree charge of maintaining a marijuana production facility, and Broche and Montes-Deoca each pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute marijuana, a second-degree offense. The charges were contained in a state grand jury indictment obtained by the Division of Criminal Justice on Nov. 9.
The case was prosecuted by Deputy Attorney General Andrew Butchko of the Division of Criminal Justice - Gangs & Organized Crime Bureau, who handled today’s hearing. It was investigated by the New Jersey State Police.
Leyva and his company, RLT Trucking LLT, were charged in a separate state grand jury indictment on Nov. 9 with third-degree theft of services for having company trucks use the EZ Pass lanes on the New Jersey Turnpike and Garden State Parkway without using EZ Pass transponders or paying the tolls. Leyva and RLT Trucking failed to pay $8,375 in tolls. The New Jersey State Police were investigating the unpaid tolls when they discovered the alleged marijuana production facility. Leyva has paid those tolls, and the theft of service charge against him and RLT Trucking was dismissed under the plea agreement.
When State Police detectives went to the Leyvas’ house on Birch Street on Aug. 28 to investigate the unpaid tolls, they found the couple was away on a trip, but Broche and Montes-Deoca were at the house and a strong odor of raw marijuana was detected through an open sliding glass door.
When detectives returned with a search warrant, they found 22 marijuana plants growing in buckets in the basement, 13 of which were approximately six feet tall. The room was rigged with grow lights, a fan and a carbon air filter. Detectives allegedly found more than 25 pounds of marijuana in the house packed in heat-sealed plastic bags and $204,999 in cash. That money was forfeited to the state under the plea agreement.
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