SAN BERNARDINO: 16 gang members charged in federal drug ring

TumbleWeed Fri Jan 24, 2014 11:37 pm

http://blog.pe.com/casinos/2014/01/24/san-bernardino-16-gang-members-charged-in-federal-drug-ring/

SAN BERNARDINO: 16 gang members charged in federal drug ring

JANUARY 24, 2014 BY JOHN ASBURY

FBI agents led a federal indictment with San Bernardino County authorities, which led to the arrestof 13 people charged with trafficking methamphetamine and crack and powder cocaine.

The San Bernardino Gang Impact Team, made up of the FBI, San Bernardino police and sheriff, DEA and ATF agents, led to the gang sweep Thursday targeting the Gilbert Street Bloods in San Bernardino.

A federal grand jury indicted 16 members with drug trafficking charges, according to the FBI and the indictment. Other arrests were made in Arizona and Indiana.
The gang task force seized 2 1/2 pounds of methamphetamine, 1 pound of cocaine, 11 handguns and $12,000 in cash.

TumbleWeed Sat Jan 25, 2014 5:34 pm

Indictment leads to arrests of alleged gang members in San Bernardino

SAN BERNARDINO >> A multi-agency investigation culminated this week in the arrests of more than a dozen members of a local street gang, authorities said.
Agents reportedly seized several handguns, drugs and thousands of dollars in connection with alleged drug trafficking across state lines.
In July 2012, police intercepted phone calls between a reputed local gang member, identified as Cipriano Allen, and an alleged accomplice discussing a shipment of methamphetamine and marijuana from California to Indianapolis, authorities said.

Later that month, Darrow Clay, identified as the alleged accomplice, sent a text message to Allen with the number of a Green Dot financial card code numbers to pay him for the fronted drugs, according to authorities, who charged the two and 12 others in a federal indictment.
Working off that indictment on Thursday, a state and federal task force arrested more than a dozen reputed members of the Gilbert Street Bloods, a street gang based in San Bernardino. The alleged gang members are charged in a federal indictment with interstate drug trafficking.

Arrests were made in California, Arizona and Indiana, according to Laura Eimiller, spokesman for the FBI’s Los Angeles office.
During an investigation by the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Agency, Alcohol Tobacco & Firearms, San Bernardino County Sheriff Department and San Bernardino Police Department, the task force seized about 2.5 pounds of methamphetamine, about a pound of cocaine, 11 handguns and $12,000, according to Eimiller.
The 39-page indictment, submitted by U.S. Attorney Andre Birotte Jr. to a Grand Jury last September, outlines a two-month period of alleged drug sales between those charged from June 8 to Sept. 21, 2012.

In conversations recorded in the indictment, the defendants discuss the cost of kilograms of drugs, financial problems, payment methods and locations of transactions, authorities said.
The document paints Allen as the mid-level manager.
He obtained drugs from Erubey Fonseca and Guillermo Leon, among others, and distributed them to other gang members, who sold the drugs to consumers and lower-level dealers, according to the indictment.
Day-by-day conversations in the indictment start on June 8, 2012, when Allen allegedly sells an FBI informant about a quarter pound of meth for $3,200.

During the investigation period, detectives transcribe phone calls and text messages between reputed gang members related to their alleged drug trafficking.
Transactions allegedly occurred at gas stations, fast-food restaurants, parking lots, convenience stores and homes in Fontana, Hesperia and San Bernardino.
At times, the alleged drug dealers became frustrated with late payments, cursing each other in text messages, according to the indictment.
On Aug. 2, 2012, Leon reportedly told Allen via text messages that he needs the money Allen owes him.

“I’m just returning back from mex I need to see u,” one reportedly says. Another: “look here we need to have a sit down.”
The next day Allen and Leon met at Allen’s home in San Bernardino to perform a “narcotics transaction,” according to the indictment.
Later, on Aug. 3, Clay allegedly told Allen a second shipment of drugs did not arrive in Indiana. Clay also allegedly said he thought law enforcement was intercepting their text messages.
Allen ordered Clay and others to buy new phones, authorities said.

Nearly two and half years after the drug-dealing conversations allegedly occurred, a number of reputed Gilbert Street Bloods were taken into custody.
In an email, Eimiller said 13 of the 16 people charged in the federal indictment were arrested.
But a copy of the indictment sent by Eimiller listed only 14 defendants.