Jose Carlos Garcia-Montero Pleads Guilty to Pot Conspiracy

Jose Carlos Garcia-Montero, a 34-year-old Cuban national and lawful permanent resident of El Paso County, Colorado, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to cultivate more than 100 marijuana plants. The announcement, made by U.S. Attorney Jason R. Dunn, confirms Garcia-Montero’s role in a sophisticated interstate drug operation exploiting Colorado’s legal cannabis framework for illicit gain.

Garcia-Montero was a key player in a network that purchased or rented residential properties across Colorado to set up illegal grow houses. These operations were not for personal use or state-legal sales—they were industrial-level cultivation sites. He helped establish grows, managed harvests, and coordinated the distribution of processed marijuana to buyers outside Colorado, fueling the black market.

The operation began to unravel on March 1, 2017, when law enforcement pulled over Garcia-Montero’s vehicle in Missouri. Hidden inside the spare tire were $176,600 in cash—later confirmed as proceeds from marijuana sales tied directly to the conspiracy. That seizure triggered a broader investigation by the DEA’s Denver Division, leading to multiple raids.

Search warrants executed in Peyton and Yoder, Colorado, laid bare the scale of the operation. On March 3, 2017, agents raided a property in Peyton, seizing 76 marijuana plants and 38 kilograms of processed product. Then, on May 23, 2017, a second raid in Yoder uncovered 171 actively growing marijuana plants—all under Garcia-Montero’s financial and physical oversight.

Garcia-Montero entered his guilty plea before U.S. District Court Judge Raymond P. Moore on August 13, 2020. He was indicted on May 23, 2019, and now awaits sentencing, scheduled for October 30, 2020. He is the fifth of seven individuals charged in the conspiracy to plead guilty, signaling the collapse of the entire network.

The case was led by the DEA’s Colorado Springs Resident Agency, with critical support from the El Paso County SWAT team and the Colorado Springs Police Department during raid operations. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Garreth Winstead and Brian M. Dunn are prosecuting the case. Court records are available via PACER under Case Number 19-cr-256. This investigation underscores how legal cannabis states are being targeted by organized crime syndicates moving product across state lines.