Fresno County residents discover alleged drug trafficker's laptops, USB drive in their laundry room
That trafficker, Benjamin Madrigal, faces federal charges for drug distribution and for murdering two associates who were cooperating with law enforcement. A trial is currently scheduled for October.
Two laptops and a USB drive that belonged to Benjamin Madrigal, the alleged leader of a Yakima, Washington-based drug trafficking organization, have been obtained by federal investigators after the current residents at Madrigal’s former house found them in the laundry room.
Madrigal, who came to the U.S. from Mexico in 2020, is accused of leading a sprawling drug distribution network, as well as murdering two of his associates in 2022 after learning they were cooperating with law enforcement. He also likes horses.
The two murder victims allegedly “sent wire transfers to load drivers, received narcotics and bulk cash, and dispatched load drivers to destinations within the United States,” according to the search warrant issued on April 11.
A 2023 federal indictment charged Madrigal with drug distribution and murder. One other defendant, Ricardo Orizaba, also faces drug charges. Federal prosecutors also allege that he was present during the murders.
Two other defendants remain fugitives, according to court filings.
Madrigal and Orizaba both pleaded not guilty. A jury trial is scheduled for October.
According to the recent search warrant, Madrigal likely left the laptops and USB drive in his Fresno County house “inadvertently” in April 2023 when he jumped out a window and tried to evade agents on foot when they came to arrest him.
“The current resident found the Target Devices in February 2025 in a computer bag that blended into a laundry room wall and were unnoticed except upon cleaning and inspection of that wall,” the warrant reads. “Agents did not discover that bag when they searched the residence on April 3, 2023, because it was concealed on or in that wall. Since the current resident disclaims ownership of the bag, I believe it must have been left there by the prior resident.”
Other notes as the case moves forward:
On April 3, attorneys for Madrigal filed a motion to eliminate from evidence the statements he made after his arrest, alleging that agents “failed to properly and adequately explain” his Miranda rights to him.
“In this case, Mr. Madrigal was a recent arrival to the United States, with no appreciable understanding of the American criminal justice system, or his Constitutional rights within that system,” his attorneys wrote.
The motion also raised issues with the communication between Madrigal and one of the arresting agents, which involved Spanish-to-English translation by another agent.
Orizaba’s attorney filed motions to 1) eliminate evidence gathered through a search warrant issued for his Parker, Washington, home “on the grounds that (the warrant) contained unsupported conclusions, and provable material misrepresentations that likely influenced the magistrate into finding probable cause where there was not”;
2) eliminate evidence gathered through search warrants for multiple cell phones tied to Orizaba because those warrants “included only the bottom-line conclusions of the affiant without any of the supporting facts specific to Mr. Orizaba that would have allowed the magistrate to make the necessary probable cause determination as to each phone”; and …
3) separate his court case from Madrigal’s “because the charges against Madrigal do not arise from the same acts as Mr. Orizaba’s and there is only a tenuous overlap with some and none with others.”
Multiple other members of this Yakima-based drug trafficking group have already pleaded guilty and are nearing the ends of their prison sentences that they received in 2022:
Ricardo Alfaro got four years for importing meth and fentanyl.
Jaime Maldonado got just under four years for importing meth and fentanyl.
Marco Bustos got a little more than three years for importing meth, fentanyl and cocaine.
Nicholas Pina is still a fugitive.
If these criminal individuals are not legal residents of the United States, they should be subject to deportation in accordance with immigration laws. Additionally, if they hold only temporary status and not U.S. citizenship, their residency status should be revoked!