Navajo man pleads guilty in illegal marijuana grow operation case
Federal prosecutors describe a sprawling scheme across New Mexico and the Navajo Nation, involving more than 1,100 greenhouses, Chinese investors and workers, and environmental harm.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A Navajo man pleaded guilty to 15 federal charges tied to an illegal marijuana growing operation that spanned New Mexico and the Navajo Nation, and included smuggling pesticides into the United States and employing workers who were in the country illegally, federal prosecutors said on Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025.
Dineh Benally, 48, admitted to leading what prosecutors described as a vast cultivation and distribution ring that operated for several years, exploiting workers and polluting the San Juan River on tribal lands.
An indictment naming Benally, his father and a business partner was unsealed earlier this year after authorities raided farms in a rural area east of Albuquerque, according to court filings. The document said 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.
Federal authorities said Benally’s operation yielded hundreds of thousands of cannabis plants and pounds of processed marijuana seized in multiple raids. About 260,000 marijuana plants and 60,000 pounds of processed marijuana were confiscated from the operation in northern New Mexico, while a subsequent raid near Estancia uncovered about 8,500 pounds (3,855 kilograms) of marijuana, $35,000 in cash, illegal pesticides, methamphetamine, firearms and a bulletproof vest.
Prosecutors said Benally faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison and up to life in prison when he’s sentenced. The Navajo Department of Justice previously sued him in 2020, leading to a court order halting those operations on tribal lands, and workers later filed lawsuits alleging they were lured to New Mexico and forced to work long hours trimming marijuana on the Navajo Nation, where growing the plant is illegal.
The plea underscores concerns about illicit cannabis operations, cross-border labor, and environmental harm tied to the industry along tribal lands.