Man arrested, linked to Mount Charleston marijuana farms

For months, pot plants found in the mountains west of Las Vegas have turned police into glorified farmers, tasked with chopping, removing and burying the illicit green herb.

But on Thursday, officers returned to a more familiar target in the war on drugs -- humans -- and made their first arrest in the budding battle against Mount Charleston marijuana farmers.

Las Vegas police arrested Fernando Mondragon-Rivera after his vehicle was pulled over during a routine traffic stop on state Route 157, near Mount Charleston.

The vehicle contained 43 pounds of freshly cut marijuana with an estimated street value of $107,000, said Las Vegas police Lt. Laz Chavez, who supervises the valley's drug task force.

Chavez said the driver's sport utility vehicle was pulled over about 8:45 a.m. by a patrol vehicle because the driver was talking on his phone.

Mondragon-Rivera and a second suspect ran away from police officers. It took officers several hours to locate the man, who was hiding about 400 yards from the road.

The second man was likely still in the mountains, Chavez said.

Police suspect Mondragon-Rivera was running a farm that officers have not yet discovered. Officers were not able to locate that farm or the second man late Thursday.

The weather, however, was not cooperating.

"We're dealing with rain, snow, mud, and there's some large canyons out there," Chavez said. "We don't want to endanger the lives of our officers."

Mondragon-Rivera was the first person connected to a marijuana farm to be arrested in Clark County since the discovery of the farms several months ago.

Late last month, a drug task force busted the largest marijuana farm ever found in Clark County, removing about 9,400 plants from the operation in Lovell Canyon, south of Mount Charleston in the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area.

Earlier in September, police removed 1,000 plants from Carpenter Canyon on the west side of the Spring Mountains, and in August, police removed 4,000 plants from the Deer Creek area of Mount Charleston.

The drug task force is made up of local and federal law enforcement, including the Metropolitan Police Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Until this year, police did not think marijuana could be grown in Southern Nevada because of the dry climate. But growers have been using drip irrigation systems to pipe water from different sources, such as a spring, to their plants.

Chavez said police have considered creating a task force to deal with outdoor marijuana, similar to SCORE, the valley's indoor marijuana task force.

The problem was funding, he said.

"It's being considered," he said. "This is such a new thing for us to be dealing with; we're kind of on our heels a bit. But we're getting better."

The farms were first spotted by police helicopters rescuing hikers several months ago.

At least six or seven farms have been identified and are slated for removal.

Contact reporter Mike Blasky at mblasky@review
journal.com or 702-383-0283.