Purported ‘secretary’ for Mexican Mafia arrested in Kansas

Authorities have arrested a purported “secretary� for the Mexican Mafia who allegedly helped funnel information through Los Angeles County jails — from her home in Kansas.

Cecilia Virgen-DeLeon, 31, was taken into custody about 11:15 a.m. Wednesday in Salina, a town of about 50,000 in the heart of the state, L.A. County Sheriff’s Deputy Francis Hardiman said in a phone interview from Kansas.

The so-called secretaries of organized crime groups often use fraudulent cellphone accounts to help push information — about drug movements, hits and other matters — to shot-callers inside the jails, Hardiman said.

“In order to pass that information ... they need people on the outside to do that for them,� he said. “And that person on the outside, for the last little bit, was this young lady.�

Technology has enabled secretaries to operate in locations away from the jails, Hardiman said. “The skill set that is required of a secretary is not necessarily that of, ‘Hey, you’ve got to be centrally located in the 213’� area code.

This time, Hardiman said, it was “the 785� — the area code that covers most of northern Kansas.

Salina Police Lt. Jim Norton told the Salina Journal that Virgen-DeLeon had lived in Kansas for about a year and had been accused of no crimes in the state. He told the newspaper she was thought to be a member of the Surenos gang, of which 120 to 150 members have been identified in Salina.

Hardiman said Virgen-DeLeon’s neighbors “had no idea� about her alleged crimes.

She was booked in the Saline County Jail on suspicion of conspiracy to commit assault with a deadly weapon and street terrorism, Hardiman said. She was awaiting extradition Thursday.

And why did she pick Kansas?

“Why not?� Hardiman said.

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