“Operation Red Reaper is an excellent example of the crime fighting work that can be accomplished when local, state and federal law enforcement agencies combine their resources and target criminal activity in our communities.” – CSLEA President Alan Barcelona

FRESNO- On July 11, 2022, Manuel Garcia, 35, of Armona, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for conspiring to sell more than 500 grams of methamphetamine.

Garcia was arrested as part of Operation Red Reaper, a federal, state, and local law enforcement operation that worked to dismantle criminal activity by the Norteno Street Gang and Nuestra Familia Prison Gang in the counties of Kings and Tulare. The operation resulted in the arrests of more than 50 people. Federal charges were brought against 23 defendants, including Garcia.

According to court documents, Garcia had previously sustained a federal conviction for trafficking methamphetamine and was sentenced to nine years in prison. Just months after his release in 2019, he conspired with other Norteno street gang members to possess and distribute pounds of methamphetamine. Gang members supplied him with methamphetamine, and he agreed to sell the drugs and pay a portion of the proceeds back to the gang. In May 2019, investigators obtained information that Garcia had picked up more than a pound of methamphetamine from a co‑conspirator. Officers performed a traffic stop on a car that Garcia was driving, searched the car, and found the methamphetamine. He was arrested, charged, and pleaded guilty to the conspiracy charge in April 2022.

This case was the product of an investigation by the

• Federal Bureau of Investigation,
• Kings County Gang Task Force,
• Special Operations Unit of the California Department of Justice and the California Highway Patrol,
• California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation,
• Kings County District Attorney's Office.