Cartel leader's son-in-law faked death to enable 'life of luxury' in Riverside, feds say

[ad_1] When a person who referred to as himself Luis Miguel Martinez moved right into a $1.2-million residence in an unique Riverside neighborhood in 2023, he introduced commonplace luxuries.

Parked outdoors have been luxurious vehicles, together with a BMW and one other automotive with Mexican license plates.

However after his arrest this week by federal authorities, neighbors realized that Martinez was allegedly an alias. His actual title, investigators say, is Cristian Fernando Gutierrez-Ochoa, and he's a son-in-law of the reputed Mexican drug lord generally known as El Mencho.

Gutierrez-Ochoa, a high-ranking member of the Jalisco New Technology cartel, or CJNG, went lacking in Mexico in December 2023, reportedly murdered for mendacity to his spouse’s father, Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes.

Federal authorities arrested the purported useless man in Riverside on Tuesday, charging Gutierrez-Ochoa with worldwide drug trafficking and cash laundering offenses.

Courtroom information don't point out whether or not he has retained a lawyer or entered a plea in response to the costs.

“The Jalisco Cartel — one of many world’s most violent and prolific drug trafficking organizations — is weaker at the moment due to the tenacious efforts of legislation enforcement to trace down and arrest a cartel chief who allegedly faked his personal demise and assumed a false id to evade justice and dwell a lifetime of luxurious in California,” Deputy Atty. Gen. Lisa Monaco mentioned in a press release.

Gutierrez-Ochoa, 37, allegedly started working for the CJNG round 2014, and later married El Mencho’s youngest daughter, recognized in courtroom information as a U.S. citizen who owns a espresso store in Riverside.

In response to courtroom paperwork, Gutierrez-Ochoa coordinated shipments of roughly 40 metric tons of meth and a pair of,000 kilograms of cocaine in Mexico, all destined for the Unites States.

He additionally used violence to additional drug trafficking and cash laundering actions, prosecutors cost.

Gutierrez-Ochoa allegedly kidnapped two members of the Mexican Navy round November 2021 in an try and safe the discharge of his mother-in-law, El Mencho’s spouse, who had been arrested by Mexican authorities.

Primarily based on an arrest warrant tied to that kidnapping, the Mexican authorities in September 2022 issued an Interpol Crimson Discover looking for the detention of Gutierrez-Ochoa.

A DEA confidential supply later reported that Gutierrez-Ochoa had gone lacking, murdered by his father-in-law. Authorities suspect El Mencho assisted Gutierrez-Ochoa by spreading the rumor within the scheme to pretend his personal demise.

The Justice Division beforehand returned an indictment towards El Mencho in April 2022, charging him with main a seamless felony enterprise to fabricate and distribute fentanyl for importation into the U.S., in keeping with the Division of Justice. There’s a reward of as much as $10 million for data resulting in his arrest. The cartel chief stays a fugitive.

The identical 12 months of Gutierrez-Ochoa’s disapperance, an organization named Pasion Azul, a purported tequila producer and suspected cash laundering entrance for the cartel, paid $1.2 million in a money for a luxurious residence in an unique neighborhood of Riverside, in keeping with an affidavit from Kyle Mori of the DEA’s Los Angeles workplace.

Mori mentioned he interviewed the escrow agent, actual property agent and vendor of the house, who referred to as the circumstances of the acquisition “suspicious.” The prior proprietor of the home mentioned she believed the purchasers have been “drug sellers” from Mexico.

In October 2024, the DEA in L.A. in October realized of an Interpol discover looking for the detention of Gutierrez-Ochoa. The Division of Homeland Safety in contrast identified images of Gutierrez-Ochoa and located they matched that of Martinez, in keeping with the affidavit.

The division utilized facial recognition software program and located that Gutierrez-Ochoa and Martinez have been the identical particular person, Mori acknowledged.

As DEA brokers tried to conduct surveillance of Gutierrez-Ochoa, Mori mentioned, he started using counter-surveillance strategies and later started following an agent. Authorities arrested him Nov. 19.

If convicted as charged, Gutierrez-Ochoa faces a minimal of 10 years in jail and a most penalty of life in jail on the drug distribution conspiracy cost.

Previous to Gutierrez-Ochoa there was an extended historical past of Mexican kingpins faking demise to keep away from seize, with El Mencho himself rumored killed on a number of events. In 2020, amid stories that the CJNG boss had died or was struggling continual kidney issues, Mexico’s president and the DEA spoke out publicly to say he was nonetheless alive and on the run.