Ten people were charged in a scheme to smuggle drugs into a Riverside County jail by hiding the contraband in the bodies of “drug mules” who would purposely get arrested to get the drugs behind bars, federal authorities announced Friday, March 21.
Three of the 10 were arrested Friday. All 10 are accused in the scheme to smuggle fentanyl, methamphetamine and heroin into the jail. The other seven were already in custody, according to a news release.
“The smuggling of drugs into our jails, particularly with the emergence of fentanyl, has dramatically increased inmate deaths and medical emergencies within our corrections division,” Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco said in a statement. The sheriff’s department worked with the FBI on the investigation.
The scheme was orchestrated by 46-year-old Andrew Jesus Ayala, a Riverside resident and a Riverside-based street gang, according to prosecutors. The smuggling allegedly was coordinated with three people already in custody who wanted the drugs, a group of street “facilitators”, and at least one drug mule who hid drugs inside his body, the release stated.
The scheme began at an unknown time and went into late 2022, after intercepted phone calls revealed the plan, according to authorities.
The drug traffickers acquired the drugs and recruited people willing to smuggle the drugs inside their body cavities, the indictment says. Temporary housing was set up for the drug mules before and after they went into custody and delivered the contraband. The leaders allegedly took steps to avoid the drugs being detected by an X-ray machine.
However, in late 2022, a defendant tried to smuggle almost 2 ounces of meth hidden inside his body, which was detected by an X-ray machine once the defendant was brought into custody, according to the release.
Members of the scheme also allegedly talked about smuggling fentanyl-laced pills that could be sold inside the jail for 10 times the amount sold on the street, prosecutors said.
All 10 defendants have been charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and distribute methamphetamine, a charge carrying a mandatory minimum sentence of five years and a statutory maximum sentence of 40 years in federal prison.
Nine of the defendants also were charged with possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, with the same sentencing parameters.
