Overview

• The plea covers drug trafficking conspiracies, manufacturing and possession with intent to distribute large quantities of marijuana, Clean Water Act violations, firearms offenses, immigration-related charges, smuggling undeclared pesticides, and concealment of records, with potential fines reaching at least $10 million plus environmental penalties.
• From 2018 to 2020, investigators say Benally’s group built more than 1,100 greenhouses across 30-plus farms on land obtained from Navajo Nation members, leading to November 2020 seizures of about 260,000 plants and 60,000 pounds of processed marijuana.
• Court documents detail an illegal sandbag dam and a filled river channel on the San Juan River that caused unpermitted discharges, forming the basis for two Clean Water Act counts.
• Prosecutors say Benally and a partner formed front companies in California to solicit Chinese investors with counterfeit grow licenses and false claims of legal hemp, while employing local Navajo workers and Chinese laborers, including undocumented workers.
• A separate operation near Estancia continued after a state license was revoked on December 23, 2023 with a $1 million fine, and a January 23, 2025 raid recovered roughly 8,500 pounds of marijuana, $35,000 in cash, illegal pesticides, methamphetamine, firearms, and a bulletproof vest.