Gang Member With Murder Scene Tattoo Faces New Charges With Mom, Brother

LOS ANGELES -- The convicted murderer sporting a tattooed blueprint of the crime scene will get to spend some family time inside a courtroom -- he is being prosecuted along with his mother and brother in an alleged jail drug smuggling plot.

Sheriff's Detective Kevin Lloyd stumbled upon the apparent scheme last summer as he delved further into the background of Anthony Garcia, 22, who had been charged with the 2004 murder of rival gang member John Juarez in an East Los Angeles suburb. At the time, Garcia was in the Men's Central Jail awaiting trial, nabbed because of the mural painted on his chest depicting a shooting in front of a liquor store. He was convicted last week.

But back in June, Garcia apparently had other things on his mind.

"We believe he conspired with his mother, brother and two other people to bring heroin and methamphetamine into the county jail so he could sell it other inmates," sheriff's Capt. Mike Parker told AOL News. "One of the five was in fact caught bringing four golf ball-sized balloons of these drugs into the jail."

On April 11, the district attorney's office brought charges of conspiracy, possession of drugs for sale and bringing narcotics into a jail against Garcia's mother, Vivian Garcia, 46; his brother John Leonard Garcia, 29; fellow gang member Manuel David Bermudez, 32; and Bermudez's girlfriend, Cynthia Bermudez, 29.

Anthony Garcia called his mother on June 9 and 13, then asked her to forward the calls to his brother, said Vivian Garcia's attorney, Andrew Stein.

"The jail was monitoring his calls, so if they are basing this charge on what was said -- I don't know," Stein told AOL News. "They haven't provided me with a transcript of the calls."

Then the group conspired to have Manuel Bermudez bring the drugs into the jail, Parker said. This occurred when Bermudez, who was out on bail after having been convicted of narcotics and firearms charges, turned himself in to start serving a prison sentence. The balloons were placed up his rectum, Parker said, but Lloyd had already figured out the scheme beforehand and alerted the jailers.

Bermudez purposely chose June 10 to surrender at Norwalk Superior Court because he knew Anthony Garcia had a court appearance that day, Parker said. The male prisoners are in the same lockup in the courthouse and the pair could meet face to face and transfer the drugs, he said.

Bermudez's girlfriend was going to help hide the drug money gathered from sales, Parker said.

According to district attorney charging documents, Anthony Garcia called his brother twice from a cellphone in lockup, asking when Bermudez would be surrendering. In one of the conversations, Anthony Garcia was told "how the drugs are divided and that Manuel Bermudez has drugs in a body cavity, but that John Garcia could not give Manuel Bermudez more because Manuel Bermudez's butt hole was too tight," the criminal complaint said.

Bermudez was dropped off at court by his girlfriend.

John Garcia was arrested the following day, and his mother was arrested hours later when she visited her newly arrested son in jail. Cynthia Bermudez was arrested at home. The two women have posted bail; the brothers are in county jail and Bermudez is in state prison.

The group is scheduled to make a court appearance Tuesday.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department purposely delayed filing the case for 10 months in order to harass the Garcia family, attorney Stein charged.

"They did this so that she couldn't attend her son's trial," Stein said. "Then after she bailed out, she was afraid to go back to the trial. She is afraid of this detective -- she fears for her life and all her family members. This man's reputation on the streets is really something that puts fear into everybody."

Lloyd's supervisor, Lt. Dave Dolson, said the fear is misplaced.

"The murder case was our top priority, so we worked on that first," Dolson told AOL News. "Kevin is a 30-year veteran of the department and was an excellent street cop and he is now one of our top homicide investigators. I have full and complete faith in Kevin Lloyd's abilities and integrity."

Before joining the Homicide Division, Lloyd was a gang expert in Pico Rivera, where the killing occurred. He solved the Juarez murder when he was looking through a photo album of gang tattoos and recognized the crime scene depiction as an unsolved case that he had worked.