Law enforcement busts cartel-linked major agricultural theft ring

Tulare County Sheriff’s deputies responded to a call about a stolen backhoe near Delano in early March.

That call led law enforcement to uncover an extensive agricultural theft operation occurring in the Central Valley in conjunction with a Mexican cartel.

Background: Sheriff’s detectives found the stolen backhoe at a truck stop in Tulare five days after it was stolen.

• Another backhoe reported missing in Kings County was hidden inside a semi-truck with a bucket and excavator.
• Truck drivers Juan Carlos Murrufo (22) and Endi Jesus Lopez Bustillos (31), both Mexican citizens, were arrested. Tulare County detectives have obtained evidence pointing to a much larger operation involving the smuggling of stolen construction equipment across the border.
• Murrufo and Bustillos admitted to detectives that they made a series of trips transporting stolen equipment from all over the Central Valley across the border into Mexico.

Directing news: The investigation began in April when Tulare County Agriculture Detectives received an alert from Stanislaus County identifying two additional suspects connected to the burglary operation.

• This led to the discovery of two loaders stolen from Camp Nelson in June, leading detectives to Hollister and identifying more suspects and vehicles linked to the theft ring.

Big picture: Tulare County detectives worked with multiple law enforcement agencies for several months to investigate the theft ring.

• Law enforcement identified over $2.25 million in stolen equipment and successfully recovered approximately $1.3 million worth of equipment, 24 items in total.
• Law enforcement called the investigation Operation Tractor Pull, which involved 75 law enforcement personnel from Sheriff’s Offices and District Attorney’s Offices around the Valley, as well as other law enforcement agencies.

What they say: The Tulare County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement that the investigation suggests a complex web of organized criminal activity with implications that extend far beyond local borders.

• “This is a complex criminal network that relies on our free and open border to illegally transfer stolen equipment from the United States to Mexico and sell that equipment to someone there,” the office said. “We have information that these truck drivers have received assistance that will allow them to bypass the border checkpoint with ease. We are working with Homeland Security to secure this checkpoint. However, our current administration’s policies make this very difficult.”

Game status: The investigation continued early Tuesday morning as law enforcement gathered at six locations in Los Banos, Hollister, Riverdale and Lindsay to serve warrants.

• Noe Guevara, 30, of Los Banos, Joel Avila, 43, of Hollister, Garrido Cortez, 32, of Israel Lindsay, and Nicolas Ruiz Cruz, 24, of Salinas, were arrested Tuesday.
• Law enforcement seized three stolen trailers from Tehachapi and Los Banos, a stolen generator from Reedley and $46,000 in cash. Detectives also found two truckloads of processed marijuana, two handguns, two rifles and three shotguns.
• The suspects are all charged with grand larceny, conspiracy to commit a crime and receiving stolen property. Cortez is also accused of operating or maintaining a drug house for the sale or distribution of controlled substances.

Go deeper: Some suspects have significant border crossing history.

• Ivan Garcia was caught smuggling drugs across the border in 2022, according to the Sheriff’s Office. Marco Antonio Alvarez Medrano, a Mexican national, owns a trucking company in Mexico that is accused of drug trafficking on behalf of the La Linea Cartel. These two suspects are still detained.
• Javier Diaz Garcia, 33, was arrested last week and flagged for crossing the border 23 times in October alone, making more than 500 crossings in the past two years.
• The remaining suspects are Los Banos’ Michael Angel Saez, Riverdale’s Francisco Muniz de la Mora, and Linday’s Eliseo Ortiz Puyicatla.