2 Navajo men and a business partner are indicted for illegal marijuana grow operations

[January 31, 2025]  By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A federal grand jury has indicted a Navajo man, his father and a business partner on charges that they were running illegal marijuana growing operations in New Mexico and on the Navajo Nation to supply the black market.

The indictment was unsealed Thursday, a week after local, state and federal authorities raided the home of one of the defendants and two farms in a rural area east of Albuquerque that were no longer licensed by the state. Items seized included 8,500 pounds (3,855 kilograms) of marijuana, some methamphetamine, two firearms, $35,000 in cash, illegal pesticides and a bullet proof vest.

The charges against Dineh Benally, 48; Donald Benally, 74; and Irving Rea Yui Lin, 73, of California, include conspiracy to manufacture and distribute marijuana, possession with intent to distribute and polluting a protected waterway.

Prosecutors described the alleged operation as a brazen criminal enterprise and asked a federal judge to detain the men pending trial, suggesting in a motion that there was a risk the defendants would flee and that they were a danger to the community.

“The bottom line is that defendants are drug traffickers who operate in accordance with their own laws, so how can anything short of detention ensure the safety of the community or defendants' appearance in this matter," the motion reads.

Phone and email messages seeking comment were left Thursday for the defendants.

Dineh Benally first made headlines when cannabis farming operations in northwestern New Mexico were raided by federal authorities in 2020. The Navajo Department of Justice sued him, leading to a court order halting those operations.

 Dineh Benally poses for a photograph before a Navajo Nation presidential forum at a tribal casino outside Flagstaff, Ariz., June 21, 2022. (AP Photo/Felicia Fonseca, File)

A group of Chinese immigrant workers also sued Benally and his associates. The workers claimed they were lured to northern New Mexico and forced to work long hours trimming marijuana on the Navajo Nation, where growing the plant is illegal.

Just last year, New Mexico marijuana regulators revoked the license of the growing operation in Torrance County, east of Albuquerque. Regulators levied a $1 million fine, saying there were about 20,000 mature plants on site — four times more than the number allowed under the license. Inspectors also found another 20,000 immature plants.

According to the indictment, the enterprise involved the construction of more than 1,100 cannabis greenhouses, the solicitation of Chinese investors to bankroll the effort and the recruitment of Chinese workers to cultivate the crops. Dineh Benally also is accused of approaching the chief of police for the Navajo Nation in an attempt to bribe him with drug proceeds to allow marijuana to be grown on tribal land.

With armed guards securing the farms on tribal land, the indictment alleges, vacuum sealers were used to package marijuana and Chinese workers transported the drugs across state lines.

The defendants also are accused of violating federal clean water standards by installing a dam made of sandbags along the San Juan River to help irrigate the crops. Wells also were drilled to access water.

If convicted, the defendants each face no less than 10 years and up to life in prison, prosecutors said.

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