Thursday, Jan. 29, 2015 | 10:05 a.m.
RENO — A California man who authorities say may be in the country illegally has pleaded guilty to growing more than 3,700 marijuana plants on a national forest northwest of Lake Tahoe.
Federal prosecutors say 22-year-old Alejandro Soto-Silva changed his earlier not guilty plea Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Sacramento.
He faces up to 20 years in prison, a $1 million fine and possible deportation to Mexico at his sentencing April 15.
Soto-Silva was arrested in July after Plumas County deputies and federal agents discovered the pot farm near the Soda Creek drainage on the Plumas National Forest.
Authorities say the sophisticated growing operation included irrigation piping and man-made reservoirs.
Soto-Silva also faces up to an additional 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for causing nearly $10,000 damage to natural resources.
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