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TRENTON
- Attorney General Anne Milgram and Criminal
Justice Director Gregory A. Paw announced
that the owner of a trucking firm, his wife
and two workers were indicted today for
allegedly running a marijuana growing facility
in the basement of the couple’s Old
Bridge home.
Rigoberto
Leyva, 35, and his company, RLT Trucking
LLT, were also charged in a separate state
grand jury indictment 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 allegedly
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.
According
to Director Paw, Leyva, his wife, Arelis
Leyva, 35, and two employees, Yosvani Broche,
31, of West Palm Beach, Fla., and Onel Montes-Deoca,
31, of East Brunswick, were charged with
first-degree counts of maintaining or operating
a marijuana production facility and possession
of marijuana with intent to distribute.
Each of those charges carries a sentence
of up to 20 years in state prison, as well
as fines of up to $750,000 for the facility
charge and $300,000 for the possession charge.
The four defendants also were charged with
second-degree conspiracy and second-degree
money laundering. In addition, Leyva and
his wife were charged with two counts of
second-degree endangering the welfare of
a child for allegedly growing marijuana
in the home where they lived with their
two young children.
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.
The
case was presented to the grand jury by
Deputy Attorney General Andrew Butchko of
the Division of Criminal Justice - Gangs
& Organized Crime Bureau. The indictment
is merely an accusation and the defendants
are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
The
indictment was handed up to Superior Court
Judge Linda R. Feinberg in Mercer County,
who assigned the case to Middlesex County.
The
defendants are scheduled to appear before
Superior Court Judge Frederick P. DeVesa
in Middlesex County at 9 a.m. on Tuesday,
Nov. 13.
Each
of the second-degree charges carries a sentence
of up to 10 years in prison. The money laundering
charge also carries a fine of up to $500,000,
and the conspiracy and child endangerment
charges each carry a fine of up to $150,000.
The third-degree theft of service charge
carries a sentence of up to five years in
prison and a fine of up to $15,000, plus
an additional $500 for each individual theft.
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