5 Accused of Attempting to Smuggle Goods Into Jail : Crime: Two inmates at the Pitchess facility are also charged in the alleged effort to sneak in cigarettes and other items.

CASTAIC — Sheriff’s deputies arrested five men Saturday as they allegedly tried to smuggle 240 packs of cigarettes, 11 butane lighters and two boxes of colored pencils used for tattooing into the Peter J. Pitchess Honor Rancho county jail.

Two inmates were also charged with participating in the smuggling ring, deputies said.

Based on tips from inside and outside the jail, Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies had worked since February to foil what they said was a contraband smuggling ring by setting up several observations posts. The operation was known as “Knight Moves.”

“Occasionally, inmates are caught with cigarettes. But to have an amount this big . . . attempted to be brought in is unusual,” said Deputy Angie McLaughlin. “Normally, you don’t see that large of an amount going into a jail facility.”

Bail was set at $10,000 each for the five men. All seven people are charged with criminal conspiracy to enter a jail facility for the purpose of illegal communication or to smuggle in contraband.

Friday night, deputies stationed at one of the observation posts saw a gray and black car carrying the men pull up to the facility’s property boundary, McLaughlin said. Two men wearing dark clothing and backpacks--later identified as Leo Parra, 44, and Daniel Lemons, 25, both of Wilmington--got out of the car, McLaughlin said.

Parra and Lemons were arrested shortly after 1 a.m. as they walked on the ridge line near the facility, carrying 240 packs of cigarettes, lighters and boxes of colored pencils, officials said. The cigarettes and lighters would have probably been sold to other inmates at inflated prices, McLaughlin said.

Meanwhile, inmates Jon Brecht, 30, and Gary Diess, 47, were waiting in back of a jail barracks and were seen by investigators placing a white towel in a window as a signal, officials said. Both men were in jail on narcotics charges, McLaughlin said.

One of them has been identified by deputies as being a leader of the smuggling ring. The other was found with $700 on him--far more than the $40 inmates are allowed to have at one time, McLaughlin said.

Authorities captured the three other suspects after they left the jail by car. They are Gilbert Galaz, 20, of San Pedro; Ronnie Nunez, 19, of Wilmington, and Joseph Rodriguez, 19, of Lakewood.