After a 20-day trial, a jury on Friday found four gang members from Pomona and Mexican Mafia members guilty of racketeering-related crimes, including the murder of a federal inmate at the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles in June 2020, according to a news release.
On Friday, March 28, the following male defendants, were found guilty of one count of conspiracy to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) act, one count of violent crimes in aid of racketeering (VICAR) murder, and one count of first-degree murder in U.S. maritime and territorial zones: Michael Lerma, 68; Carlos Gonzalez, 41; Juan Sanchez, 33; and Jose Valencia Gonzalez, 44.
All four males have been in federal custody since 2018.
Lerma and Valencia Gonzalez were also found guilty of one count of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and heroin at the MDC and in Pomona, according to the news release.
Additionally, the jury found Gonzalez and Valencia Gonzalez guilty of one count of being felons in possession of a firearm and ammunition, a count Sanchez was not found guilty of.
“These defendants were key players in a criminal enterprise that committed murder, assault, and drug trafficking,” said Acting United States Attorney Joseph T. McNally. “Today’s verdict will take these offenders off our streets and make our community safer.”
“This case makes it clear that gang violence by Mexican Mafia members and associates has not only been directed from the streets, but also from prisons in California,” said Akil Davis, assistant director of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office. “This lengthy investigation exemplifies the commitment by agencies at the federal, state and local level who’ve collaborated for several years on a task force to arrive at justice in this case.”
According to evidence presented at trial, Lerma, a reported member of the Mexican Mafia prison gang, controlled and extorted drug money from Latino street gangs in the Pomona area, and from incarcerated Latinos in Calipatria State Prison in Imperial County, from February 2012 to June 2020, according to the news release. It also states that members of Lerma’s organized crime network also participated in robberies, identity theft, drug trafficking, and other acts of violence.
At Lerma’s direction, in June 2020, Gonzalez, Valencia Gonzalez, and Sanchez killed someone inside of a cell at the MDC in retaliation for the victim “failing to pay drug debts deemed owed to Lerma’s cell of the Mexican Mafia prison gang,” according to the news release.
Sentencing hearings will be scheduled in the coming months. Each defendant will face a mandatory sentence of life in federal prison.
So far, federal prosecutors have obtained 16 convictions in this case. That includes the conviction of Cheryl Perez-Castaneda, 62, of Pomona, who used her street position as a “señora” to solicit a murder and for participating in a car theft attempt that led to a shooting in July 2013. She is serving a 12-year prison sentence, according to the news release.
Kelly Deshannon, 43, of La Verne, is serving a prison sentence of more than seven years for extortion, distributing drugs, and serving as a “secretary” to Lerma and for facilitating a July 2013 armed robbery.