Multiple reported gang members were arrested this week by federal authorities on various charges, including allegedly smuggling methamphetamine and heroin inside plastic straws into Pitchess Detention Center.

The 12 arrested Tuesday and Wednesday are among 17 defendants named in a series of indictments returned by a federal grand jury, including narcotics, bank fraud and aggravated identity theft, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

The other five charged defendants were already in federal and state custody, officials said.

The investigation into the Mexican Mafia-affiliated Puente 13 street gang was led by the United States Secret Service and the Drug Enforcement Administration, and included a series of wiretaps that revealed criminal activity by gang members, gang associates and others.

During the five-month investigation, law enforcement uncovered a scheme to smuggle narcotics into the Pitchess Detention Center by using Puente 13 gang members both within and outside the prison.

The investigation began when authorities learned that Puente 13 member Victor Ponce De Leon was allegedly involved in drug trafficking, with intercepted communications indicating he was willing to sell methamphetamine.

Federal officials allege that Ricky Lee Thornburg, a Puente 13 member who was an inmate at the Pitchess Detention Center, planned to receive smuggled methamphetamine from fellow co-conspirators and distribute the drugs to other inmates.

This indictment, which charges the alleged supplier of the drugs and a woman who allegedly attempted to smuggle the methamphetamine into the facility, alleges that more than two ounces of methamphetamine and some heroin, all of which was concealed in plastic drinking straws, was intercepted as the woman was preparing to visit De Leon at Pitchess in May.

Patricia Marie Jimenez, 32, of La Puente, is charged in two indictments with attempting to smuggle the narcotics into Pitchess by hiding the drug-laden straws in her boots.

A total of 17 defendants were charged in 12 indictments and one criminal complaint that allege a wide range of crimes, including possession with the intent to distribute methamphetamine and heroin, conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, firearm charges, bank fraud, conspiracy to commit bank fraud and multiple identity theft charges, according to federal officials.

As the investigation expanded, authorities also uncovered an identity theft ring. While most of the participants are charged in separate cases, stolen credit cards and personal identifying information from numerous common victims were found in the possession of multiple defendants.

If convicted, those facing narcotics offenses generally face mandatory minimum sentences of five years in federal prison and maximum possible sentences of 40 years, according to federal officials.

Those charged with fraud offenses face a range of penalties, with bank fraud carrying a statutory maximum sentence of 30 years in prison and aggravated identity theft carrying a mandatory consecutive two-year sentence.

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