TULARE COUNTY, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) — Investigators say the operation intended to find the shooters that killed three teens in Visalia has also led to a drug bust.
Officials from the Tulare County Sheriff’s Office say that as part of “Operation Trailblazer,” an effort to find the people responsible for the shooting deaths of three teens in Visalia, deputies have now identified a drug trafficking ring in Tulare County.
In what officials are calling “phase two” of the operation, search warrants were served in Tulare County and Los Angeles County over the course of three days. Joe Carmona, 30, and Sirjoe Carmona, 30, both of Ivanhoe, were identified as primary suspects in the “nationwide drug trafficking ring.”
“In collaboration with several federal and state agencies, TCSO Detectives served 53 search warrants and seized 14,763 marijuana plants, 773 pounds of processed marijuana, 53 firearms, $358,000 in cash and $300,000 in assets during this five-month investigation,” said a news release from the Tulare County Sheriff’s Department.”
Deputies say the investigation is ongoing, and anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Bari Molyneux at (800) 808-0488, or anonymously at tcso@tipnow.com or by text or voicemail at (559) 725-4194.