Two women arrested in Ukiah; charges include intent to sell drugs, theft

UKIAH, 7/23/24 – Two women are in custody at the Mendocino County Jail after being arrested on myriad charges ranging from theft to intent to deal drugs, according to the Ukiah Police Department (UPD).

An unnamed male victim from Clearlake contacted UPD on July 15 to report that he believed he lost his wallet along Airport Park Blvd. on July 14. The victim shared that there were fraudulent charges on his account from a nearby gas station.

UPD officers watched video surveillance footage from the gas station. The officers used the timestamps on the bank charges to find the proper time on the footage and identified a woman who used a card at the gas station at the same time. She was identified as Jennifer Pifer, 32, of Ukiah. 

The footage showed Pifer get in a vehicle and drive off. To identify the vehicle’s license plate, UPD used the Flock Safety camera system. Flock is a series of fourteen license plate reading cameras that UPD operates in the city to solve crimes. Officers found the vehicle in the 500 block of South Orchard Avenue. 

Pifer was driving the vehicle with two passengers. She was in possession of the victim’s stolen wallet and debit cards. Pifer was arrested for three felonies: possession of stolen property, identity theft and theft by use of a credit/debit card. 

One of the passengers with Pifer was Janine Ponciano, 45, of Ukiah. The Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office had a warrant out for her arrest. When officers arrested her, they found her with packaged drugs and a taser. She had previously been convicted of multiple felonies, which meant she was not allowed to legally own a taser. 

UPD also found that Ponciano had a hotel room in Ukiah. The Mendocino Major Crimes Task Force joined the investigation and a search warrant was issued for Ponciano’s hotel room. The task force found what is described as “a large quantity of drugs…packaged for sales.” 

Ponciano was charged with three misdemeanors — possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of a controlled substance and felon/addict in possession of a stun gun. She was also charged with two felonies for possession of a controlled substance for sales and the transporting of controlled substance for sales.