GAINESVILLE, Ga. -- Three men have been sentenced after planning to use a warehouse in Gainesville to unload and hide marijuana.
Marco Ortiz-Barajas, 19, Angel Zamudio-Martinez, 54, and Jose Luis Chavez-Morfin, 43, all live in the metro Atlanta, but are from Mexico, said U.S. attorney Sally Quillian Yates.
According to information presented in court, investigators found that the men were taking a shipment of marijuana to the Gainesville warehouse to unload it. During an undercover investigation by Homeland Security Investigations, a search warrant was executed as soon as a tractor trailer arrived at the warehouse.
Law enforcement found almost 1,600 pounds of pot hidden under cilantro, peppers and other green vegetables. The seized the drugs were worth about $3,144,000.
Chavez-Morfin was sentenced to five years, 10 months in prison. Zamudio-Martinez was handed four years, two months in jail, and Ortiz-Barajas' sentence is three years. All three men will have five years of supervised release after completing their sentences.
They were convicted after they pled guilty on June 29, to a charge of conspiracy to possess marijuana with intent to distribute.