{"id":456179,"date":"2025-12-18T19:24:23","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T19:24:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/456179\/"},"modified":"2025-12-18T19:24:23","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T19:24:23","slug":"17-members-of-puente-13-gang-arrested-after-federal-takedown-in-la","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/456179\/","title":{"rendered":"17 members of Puente-13 gang arrested after federal takedown in LA"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\"><strong>LOS ANGELES COUNTY, Calif.<\/strong> &#8211; Federal authorities arrested 17 members and associates of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxla.com\/tag\/us\/ca\/los-angeles-county\/la-puente\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">La Puente-<\/a>based Puente-13 gang on Wednesday following a major investigation into kidnapping, shootings, and large-scale drug trafficking.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p> Puente-13 gang arrests   <\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"KTTV\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">What we know:<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">Federal officials have charged a total of 20 defendants in an indictment outlining a wide range of criminal activity in the San Gabriel Valley.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">The charges include the distribution of methamphetamine and fentanyl, conspiracy to commit kidnapping, and the illegal sale of firearms, including machine guns.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">Of those charged, 17 were arrested this week, one is already in state custody, and two are on the run.<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">The defendants arrested on Wednesday include:<\/p>\n<ul original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"KTTV\" data-v-03e8ff79=\"\" data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">\n<li class=\"article-ct\" data-v-03e8ff79=\"\">Victor Sanchez, 24, a.k.a. &#8220;Pollo&#8221; and &#8220;Chicken,&#8221; of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxla.com\/tag\/us\/ca\/san-bernardino-county\/san-bernardino\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">San Bernardino;<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"article-ct\" data-v-03e8ff79=\"\">Isaiah Castro, 24, a.k.a. &#8220;Boy,&#8221; of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxla.com\/tag\/us\/ca\/los-angeles-county\/azusa\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Azusa;<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"article-ct\" data-v-03e8ff79=\"\">Isaac Estrada-Frost, 21, a.k.a. &#8220;Ghost,&#8221; of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxla.com\/tag\/us\/ca\/los-angeles-county\/rosemead\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Rosemead;<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"article-ct\" data-v-03e8ff79=\"\">Heather Covarrubias, 40, a.k.a. &#8220;Snowbella,&#8221; of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxla.com\/tag\/us\/ca\/los-angeles-county\/diamond-bar\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Diamond Bar;<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"article-ct\" data-v-03e8ff79=\"\">Dominic Ornelas, 23, a.k.a. &#8220;Dom&#8221; and &#8220;Lil Speedy,&#8221; of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxla.com\/tag\/us\/ca\/san-bernardino-county\/rancho-cucamonga\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Rancho Cucamonga;<\/a> and<\/li>\n<li class=\"article-ct\" data-v-03e8ff79=\"\">Adrian Lopez, 25, a.k.a. &#8220;Tapped In&#8221; and &#8220;Monkey,&#8221; of La Puente.<\/li>\n<li class=\"article-ct\" data-v-03e8ff79=\"\">Bryan Gordian-Padilla, 24, a.k.a. &#8220;Goon,&#8221; of<a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxla.com\/tag\/us\/ca\/los-angeles-county\/west-covina\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> West Covina.<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">The investigation revealed that the gang allegedly used violence to protect its territory and enrich the Mexican Mafia.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">During the probe, law enforcement seized 71 firearms, 10 pounds of methamphetamine, and thousands of pills containing fentanyl and carfentanil\u2014a synthetic opioid significantly more potent than fentanyl.<\/p>\n<p>Photo courtesy U.S. Attorney&#8217;s Office for the Central District of California <\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"KTTV\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">Timeline:<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">The affidavits filed in court detail specific violent incidents spanning several years:<\/p>\n<ul original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"KTTV\" data-v-03e8ff79=\"\" data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">\n<li class=\"article-ct\" data-v-03e8ff79=\"\"><strong>December 2022:<\/strong> Suspected gang members allegedly shot at rivals at a residence in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxla.com\/tag\/us\/ca\/los-angeles-county\/covina\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Covina<\/a>. Investigators linked one suspect, Dominic Ornelas, to the scene after he reportedly tripped and left behind his left shoe.<\/li>\n<li class=\"article-ct\" data-v-03e8ff79=\"\"><strong>July 2023:<\/strong> Adrian Lopez and Heather Covarrubias allegedly participated in the kidnapping of two victims. The victims were targeted to retrieve items believed to have been stolen from a gang member&#8217;s home. One victim was severely beaten before escaping.<\/li>\n<li class=\"article-ct\" data-v-03e8ff79=\"\"><strong>May 2025:<\/strong> Isaac Estrada-Frost allegedly yelled racial slurs and shot at a victim\u2019s car outside a liquor store in La Puente after mistaking the individual for a rival gang member.<\/li>\n<li class=\"article-ct\" data-v-03e8ff79=\"\"><strong>Wednesday:<\/strong> Federal authorities conducted a sweep, arresting 16 suspects who began making their initial court appearances in Los Angeles.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p> Two fugitives on the run <\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"KTTV\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">What&#8217;s next:<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">The following two fugitives are still on the run:<\/p>\n<ul original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"KTTV\" data-v-03e8ff79=\"\" data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">\n<li class=\"article-ct\" data-v-03e8ff79=\"\">Larry Castillo, 42, a.k.a. &#8220;Lil Dee,&#8221; of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxla.com\/tag\/us\/ca\/san-bernardino-county\/victorville\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Victorville<\/a>; and<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/larry-castillo.png\" alt=\"\" data-v-0dea8073=\"\"\/> <\/p>\n<p data-v-0dea8073=\"\">Photo courtesy U.S. Attorney&#8217;s Office for the Central District of California <\/p>\n<ul original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"KTTV\" data-v-03e8ff79=\"\" data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">\n<li class=\"article-ct\" data-v-03e8ff79=\"\">Soo Kang, 31, a.k.a. &#8220;Easy,&#8221; of Los Angeles<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/soo-kangv.png\" alt=\"\" data-v-0dea8073=\"\"\/> <\/p>\n<p data-v-0dea8073=\"\">Photo courtesy U.S. Attorney&#8217;s Office for the Central District of California <\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">Another defendant, Heather Johnson, 38, of Victorville, is in state custody.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">Initial court appearances for nine of the defendants took place Wednesday afternoon.<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">The remaining seven defendants are expected to appear before a judge on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">If convicted, nine of the defendants arrested on Wednesday would face statutory maximum sentences of life in federal prison.<\/p>\n<p>     <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxla.com\/tag\/crime-publicsafety\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-6c8e215c=\"\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Crime and Public Safety<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxla.com\/tag\/us\/ca\/los-angeles-county\/los-angeles\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-6c8e215c=\"\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Los Angeles<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxla.com\/tag\/us\/ca\/los-angeles-county\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-6c8e215c=\"\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Los Angeles County<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxla.com\/tag\/us\/ca\/los-angeles-county\/la-puente\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-6c8e215c=\"\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">La Puente<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxla.com\/tag\/world\/mexico\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-6c8e215c=\"\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Mexico<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxla.com\/tag\/series\/instastories\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-6c8e215c=\"\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Instastories<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOS ANGELES COUNTY, Calif. &#8211; Federal authorities arrested 17 members and associates of the La Puente-based Puente-13 gang&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":456180,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,6082,9994,2961,17627,224,6080,5337,2222,50,6166,68,103],"class_list":{"0":"post-456179","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-crime-publicsafety","11":"tag-instastories","12":"tag-la","13":"tag-la-puente","14":"tag-los-angeles","15":"tag-los-angeles-county","16":"tag-losangeles","17":"tag-mexico","18":"tag-news","19":"tag-series","20":"tag-us","21":"tag-world"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115742211143721715","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=456179"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456179\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/456180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=456179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=456179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=456179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}