15 Suspects Plead Not Guilty, to Get Trial Dates Next Week

Fifteen of the suspects arrested in Wednesday’s massive crackdown on drug dealers affiliated with a Santa Ana street gang appeared in Orange County Superior Court Thursday and entered pleas of not guilty to the charges against them.

Each of the defendants had been indicted by a secretly impaneled grand jury--Orange County’s first--which was working with local and federal agents running a five-month undercover operation centered on the 1000 and 1100 blocks of West 3rd Street.

The defendants were appointed attorneys from the public defender’s office, and ordered back to court Sept. 16 for hearings at which trial dates will be set and any bail motions will be considered, according to the court clerk. Bail ranging from $25,000 to $150,000 had been set for all 15 prior to their arrests.

Most of the defendants were charged with multiple counts of selling either cocaine or heroin to undercover agents; three were also accused of gang involvement, which would add to their prison terms if convicted; and four faced allegations that their illegal drug sales occurred within 1,000 feet of a school, which can tack another three to five years on any prison terms they might get for dealing drugs.

Those arraigned in court Thursday were identified as Santa Ana residents Jesus Lopez Zambrano, 22; Hubaldo Franco Mendoza, 19; Jesus Alberto Diaz, 21; Celso Meza Martinez, 34; Jose DeJesus Gallegos; 20, Francisco Valencia Gonzalez, 22; Jose Lopez Picasso, 32; Jorge Luis Madrigal, 19; Henry Arthur Gonzalez, 38; Alfred Jose Partida, 35; Juan Roman Ortiz, 32; Jose Francisco Medina, 40, and Noe Jara Orozco and Jose Alberto Aguilar, ages unknown.

Also arraigned was Anaheim resident Carlos Bernardo Moreno, 23.