5 Enter Not Guilty Pleas to Drug Charges : Crime: The suspected members of the ‘Valley Boys’ gang are held on $2-million bail each.

Five alleged members of a drug gang that authorities said supplied cocaine throughout much of the San Fernando Valley in recent years pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking charges Monday and were ordered held on $2-million bail each.

Authorities said in court documents that the high bail was needed because they believed that the defendants had enough illegally gained drug profits to bail themselves out if bail was set at any lesser amount.

The four men and one woman charged in the case are members of the “Valley Boys” criminal drug gang, according to authorities who arrested them last week and seized 31 pounds of cocaine. The group is suspected of selling cocaine, marijuana and steroids to dozens of street dealers in the Valley, Glendale and Simi Valley in recent years.

Other alleged members of the group were arrested in March.

One of the men who pleaded not guilty Monday was Carlos Edward Rivera, a 6-foot-5 former Cal State Northridge All-California football player who authorities believe may be a ringleader of the group.

Rivera, 28, was arrested in a raid early Thursday at the Canyon Country residence that he shares with his wife and two children, police said. Also arrested were David Thomas Lara, 28, of Sherman Oaks; Richard Ryoichi Inouye, 28, of Simi Valley; Eugene Charles Schneider, 47, of Studio City, and Tracy Lynnette Griffith, 22, of North Hollywood, who authorities believe is Rivera’s mistress.

Lawyers for Rivera and the other four defendants had no comment on the case, saying they had not yet read the complaint. A bail-review hearing was set for Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court before Commissioner Abraham Khan, who presided over the arraignment.

All five of the defendants were charged with one count each of possessing cocaine and marijuana with the intent to sell, as well as conspiracy to sell cocaine. The four men also were charged with the sale and transportation of cocaine. If convicted, the defendants would face a maximum sentence of up to 25 years in prison on each count.

Glendale police, who conducted the investigation that led to the arrests, alleged that Rivera was responsible for distributing hundreds of kilos of cocaine each month. At his $325,000 house, authorities found and seized a $70,000 1978 Porsche 930, a black 1990 BMW 750il, a 1991 Nissan Pathfinder with a trailered jet ski and a 1990 Lincoln limousine.