Covina lawyer accused of aiding 18th Street gang is denied bail

A Covina defense attorney accused of serving as a liaison between a violent Los Angeles-based street gang and the Mexican Mafia was ordered held without bail Friday by a federal judge.

Prosecutors argued that Isaac Guillen, indicted as part of a broad racketeering case against a clique of the 18th Street gang known as the Columbia Lil Cycos, was a danger to the community and a flight risk.

Guillen, in blue jeans and a long-sleeve T-shirt from his undergraduate alma mater, UC Berkeley, sat chained at his ankles and wrists and never spoke during the hearing in front of U.S. Magistrate Judge Andrew J. Wistrich.

The UCLA law school graduate is accused of delivering proceeds from the gang’s illegal activities to an imprisoned member of the Mexican Mafia and then “relaying orders” from the mafioso back to the gang, according to an indictment unsealed this week. Guillen is also partners with the mafia member in several business ventures, including a limousine service, a liquor store and a real estate holding corporation, the indictment states.

Guillen’s attorney, William S. Harris, said his client would plead not guilty to all charges at his arraignment scheduled for next week, but declined further comment.

Guillen appears to have been having severe financial difficulties prior to his indictment. He filed for bankruptcy earlier this year, according to court records, claiming more than $1.8 million in debt, including more than $100,000 in credit card bills. He reported his San Gabriel Valley home’s assessed value at more than $1 million and listed two 2007 Lexus automobiles as among his possessions. He listed the income from his law practice as having dwindled from more than half a million dollars in 2007 to about $137,000 last year.

According to prosecutors, Guillen, identified in the indictment by the gang moniker “coach,” was responsible for making sure that a share of “rent” proceeds collected by the gang were delivered to an unidentified Mexican Mafia member serving time in the Supermax federal prison in Colorado.

Rent was collected from drug dealers, street vendors and other merchants who were forced to pay or suffer the wrath of the gang, authorities allege. A 3-week-old baby was killed near MacArthur Park by a stray bullet in 2007 when gang members allegedly attacked a street vendor who refused to pay $50 in rent. The infant’s death caused outrage across the city and served as a catalyst for federal authorities to crack down on the gang.

According to the indictment, Guillen would either buy money orders himself or direct someone else to do so and then deposit them into the Mexican Mafia member’s prison commissary account. He deposited $28,000 between 2003 and 2008, the indictment alleges.

He would also give money to the inmate’s family members and to other imprisoned members of the gang, as directed, prosecutors allege. Additionally, he invested some rent proceeds into the businesses he operated with the Mexican Mafia member.

Although prosecutors allege that Guillen relayed orders from the mafia member to the gang, the indictment provides no further details.

Abby Cordero, who manages Guillen’s law office, called the charges against her boss “ridiculous.”

“We all know he’s innocent,” she said.

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scott.glover@latimes.com