ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A Navajo man has pleaded guilty to 15 charges stemming from allegations that he ran illegal marijuana growing operations in New Mexico and on the Navajo Nation, smuggled pesticides into the U.S. and employed workers who were in the country illegally.

Federal prosecutors announced the plea agreement Tuesday, saying Dineh Benally admitted to leading what they described as a vast cultivation and distribution ring that spanned several years, exploited workers and polluted the San Juan River on tribal lands.

An indictment naming Benally, his father and a business partner was unsealed earlier this year after authorities raided farms in a rural area east of Albuquerque. The document said the enterprise involved the construction of more than 1,100 cannabis greenhouses,

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