Expert: Pike pot link to Mexican cartels unlikely

Marijuana being grown in Ohio might have Mexican overseers, but it's unlikely to be at the direction of what most think when they hear the word cartel, according to Sam Quinones.

Quinones spent a decade in Mexico as a freelance writer and another decade covering immigration, drug trafficking and gangs for the Los Angeles Times. He also spent about five years researching and writing "Dreamland: The True Tale of America's Heroin Epidemic," which led him into southern Ohio.

He made several trips to Scioto County, just next door to Pike County, where eight members of the Rhoden family were killed "execution style" April 22. One victim was shot nine times and all but one other also had multiple gunshot wounds. The execution of the family coupled with commercial marijuana grows that were found at three of the four crime scenes have led some to speculate that a Mexican drug cartel might be involved.

Although a cartel angle is not impossible — there was a 22,000-plant grow found in Pike County in 2010 and a 1,200-plant grow in 2012 — Quinones is doubtful. First of all, the traditional cartels aren't the ones behind marijuana operations in isolated wooded areas like Pike County in his experience.

Mexican cartels have used Pike County for pot grows

"There's no cartel to speak of other than a regional pot grow. ... They begin with cheap Mexican labor, take them to some isolated area of forestland. They basically strip that land and put in marijuana," he said. "They leave them there at a camp for four months while it grows, bringing food and water every week, then split the profits."

A marijuana grow operation works similar to how he describes the black tar heroin situation in "Dreamland" — someone comes to the states from Mexico and starts an operation, hiring a few others to work with him. Those workers learn how to run an operation and often go out on their own.

"It's a business that can be done in any place you think you have some forestland no one watches," Quinones said.

Quinones said he would be "very amazed" if a cartel is active in Pike County, but said it's more likely what officials found in the past were independent marijuana traffickers. And although he obviously doesn't know who murdered the Rhodens, his experience indicates that theories of cartel involvement, or even the independent Mexican traffickers, is unlikely.

Aside from not wanting to draw attention to themselves with such a sweeping hit, particularly of non-Mexicans, Quinones said it's unlikely the Mexican growers would have interacted with the Rhodens. There would have been a language barrier and they likely were dealing with two different types of crop because indoor grows, like at least one found during the murder investigation, typically involve more potent hybrid marijuana.

During a Wednesday press conference, Attorney General Mike DeWine confirmed that in 2010 and 2012 investigators had information that led them to believe those involved were from Mexico and involved in some kind of organized crime. However, he also said the word cartel is sometimes "thrown around a little loosely."

"I think you have to be very careful when you label something a cartel or an organized group unless we actively know what it is," DeWine said.

Quinones never came across any major organized crime in southern Ohio while researching "Dreamland." While certainly there were drugs from such operations — including gangs out of Detroit — he said minority traffickers are unlikely to venture into mostly white communities where they will stick out. The 2010 Census found nearly 97 percent of Pike County is white and Adams County, which borders the murder scene, was 98 percent white. All of Pike's other neighboring counties are about the same with the exception of Ross County at 91 percent white, but that figure is distorted by the Census' inclusion of inmates at two state prisons.

jison@Gazette.com

Twitter: @JonaIson