A woman who helped coordinate crime activity in the Los Angeles County Jail for gang members was arrested late Wednesday morning in Salina by LA County Sheriffs Deputies assisted by the I-135/I-70 Drug Task Force gang special enforcement unit.
Cecilia Virgen-Deleon was taken into custody without incident at 701 Carriage Circle about 11:15am.
Virgen is described as a “Secretary” for the Mexican Mafia, meaning that she would receive communications from inmates in the jail, and then relay information to other inmates in the jail that could range from drug trafficking to assaults , to perhaps murder in the jail.
Virgen will be extradited back to California on charges of 2 counts of felony assault and 7 counts of street terrorism. She was part of a gang known as Surenos.
Lt. Jim Norton with the Drug Task Force, says the search warrant issued for Virgen’s home in Salina was used to recover electronic data crimes and that would include seizure of computers, hard drives, and cell phones in her possession.
Virgen had lived in Salina about a year.
The following is a news release from the I-135/I-70 Drug Task Force and LA County Sheriffs Office:
In January of 2013 Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department detectives began an investigation into the activities of the criminal street gang Armenian Power. The investigation resulted in the arrest of Gevork Simonian, a high ranking member of Armenian Power. The investigation of Simonian led to developing connections between Armenain Power and The Mexican Mafia, a prison based gang in California.
In order for the prison gang, a very sophisticated criminal operation, to operate, they use what they call a Secretary. The job of the Secretary is to coordinate orders for the movement of drugs and the ordering of murders and assaults within the Los Angeles County jail. This coordination is done via the phones.
Cecilia Virgen-Deleon is the current Secretary for the Mexican Mafia member running the Los Angeles County jail. She was doing so via cell phones from Salina Kansas.
LASD Detectives obtained an arrest warrant for Virgen-Deleon. She was charged by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office with two counts of conspiracy to commit assault with a deadly weapon and seven counts of street terrorism.
In California, the charge of street terrorism is in California Penal Code Section 186.22(a). Essentially it is being a member of a criminal gang and aiding, furthering or assisting members of that gang in felonious conduct.
The LASD intends on extraditing Virgen-Deleon to Los Angeles County for prosecution.