Pomona’s four Mexican mafia-connected gang members were found guilty late last week in numerous charges, including murder and drug trafficking, federal prosecutors said.
The evidence presented in the 20-day trial shows that 68-year-old Michael Lerma, also known as “Pomona Mike” and “Big Mike,” a gang member at Mexican mafia prison, ordered the murder of a federal prisoner at the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles more than four years ago, prosecutors said in a news release that issued the judgement.
In June 2020, three other inmates, Carlos Gonzalez, 41, Juan Sanchez, 33, and Jose Valencia Gonzalez, 44, carried out a fatal hit with an inmate who was identified solely as SB in court documents.
“The defendant killed SB in retaliation from SB for failing to pay drug theft debt that is deemed owed to Lerma’s cell in a Mexican mafia prison,” the release said.
Authorities added that for more than eight years, from February 2012 to June 2020, LERMA ruled Pomona and surrounding Latino street gangs, as well as Latinos in the Calipatrian prison in Imperial County, forcing drug proceeds from them.
“Members of LERMA’s criminal enterprises are also engaged in robbery, identity theft and fraud, drug trafficking and other acts of violence,” the prosecutor said.
On May 12, 2020, he was seen outside the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles, California. (Valerie Macon/AFP via Getty Images)
All four men in federal custody since 2018 were found guilty by a conspiracy to commit a violent crime with the help of assault, murder, first-degree murder, and a conspiracy jury.
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Lerma and Valencia Gonzalez were also found in charge of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances in the MDC and Pomona regions. Both Gonzalez and Valencia Gonzalez were found guilty of being a felon with firearms and ammunition, but it turns out that Sanchez is not the same charge.
“We’re committed to working with people who are looking for a way to spend time with people who are looking for a place to stay,” said Akil Davis, assistant director of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office. “This lengthy investigation illustrates the commitment of federal, state and local level agencies that have worked with the task force for several years to reach justice in this case.”
This is the 16th conviction in the case, including the conviction of 62-year-old Pomona resident Cheryl Perez Castaneda, a high-level companion of Lerma, “Señora” who used her powers on the streets to seek murder. She is sentenced to 12 years in prison.
A 43-year-old woman from Raverne was also sentenced to more than seven years in the role of Lerma’s “secretary,” where she promoted the 2013 armed robbery, involving the distribution of terror and drugs.
Prosecutors say a hearing for the four men is expected to be scheduled in the coming months.
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