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A high-ranking Mexican drug cartel chief accused of faking his loss of life to keep away from seize was sentenced Thursday to greater than 11 years in U.S. jail for his cash laundering function in one among his house nation’s largest and most violent narcotics trafficking organizations.
Cristian Fernando Gutierrez-Ochoa was residing in California below a phony id when he was arrested in November 2024. The daddy of his longtime girlfriend is Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, the fugitive Jalisco New Technology boss often called El Mencho.
Gutierrez-Ochoa was needed in Mexico on suspicion of kidnapping two Mexican Navy members in 2021 to safe the discharge of El Mencho’s spouse after she had been arrested by Mexican authorities, in accordance with a Drug Enforcement Administration agent’s affidavit.
On the time of his arrest, Nicole Argentieri, a senior Justice Division official, stated Gutierrez-Ochoa “allegedly directed the importation of tons of methamphetamine and cocaine into america and engaged in violence to help the cartel’s felony actions.”
U.S. District Choose Beryl Howell in Washington sentenced Gutierrez-Ochoa to 11 years and eight months in federal jail. Howell stated the violent cartel, identified by its Spanish-language acronym CJNG, is also a “harmful drive” in america.
“It is a harmful solution to make a residing,” Howell stated. “It is a harmful solution to dwell.”
Gutierrez-Ochoa informed the choose that he accepts duty for his “mistake.”
“I remorse all of this,” he stated by way of a translator. “By no means once more will I make a mistake like this in my life.”
Justice Division prosecutors really useful a 14-year jail sentence for the 28-year-old Gutierrez-Ochoa, who pleaded responsible in June to conspiring to launder thousands and thousands of {dollars} in drug trafficking proceeds. Prosecutors described him as a harmful, educated operative who was secretly embedded within the U.S. to do the CJNG cartel’s bidding.
“The CJNG kills, tortures, and corrupts to site visitors staggering portions of cocaine, methamphetamine and different medication into america and elsewhere – all for profiting and enrichment, which in flip fund the cycle of violence, ravaging numerous lives and communities,” prosecutors wrote.
Final 12 months, the U.S. imposed sanctions on a gaggle of Mexican accountants and corporations allegedly linked to a timeshare fraud ring run by the Jalisco cartel in a multi-million greenback scheme focusing on People.
Gutierrez-Ochoa’s attorneys requested for a seven-year jail sentence. They stated he was remorseful and accepted duty for his felony conduct.
“Mr. Gutierrez’s rehabilitation is just not performative,” they wrote. “It displays a younger man who now absolutely understands the magnitude of his errors and who seeks to rebuild his life with integrity.”
El Mencho informed associates that he killed Gutierrez-Ochoa for mendacity, however Gutierrez-Ochoa truly faked his loss of life and fled from Mexico to Riverside, California, authorities have stated. Gutierrez-Ochoa and his girlfriend, a U.S. citizen, lived “a CJNG-sponsored lifetime of abundance” in a $1.2 million house bought with laundered cartel cash, in accordance with prosecutors.
Deputy Legal professional Basic Lisa Monaco stated beforehand that Gutierrez-Ochoa “assumed a false id to evade justice and dwell a lifetime of luxurious in California.”
The State Division has provided a reward of as much as $15 million for data resulting in the arrest of El Mencho.
In February, President Donald Trump’s administration designated CJNG as a overseas terrorist group, giving authorities new instruments to prosecute cartel associates.
Howell has sentenced different CJNG leaders.
José González Valencia, a brother-in-law of El Mencho, was sentenced in June to 30 years in a jail after pleading responsible to a drug trafficking conspiracy cost. El Mencho’s son, Rubén Oseguera, often called El Menchito, was sentenced in March to life in jail after a jury convicted him of conspiring to distribute cocaine and methamphetamine for U.S. importation and utilizing a firearm in a drug conspiracy.
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