A powerful Mexican drug cartel leader was arrested in Riverside this week on suspicion of faking his own death in order to assume a false identity and live in California.
Cristian Fernando Gutierrez Ochoa, identified by federal prosecutors as a member of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), was arrested on Tuesday. He was facing criminal charges of international drug trafficking and money laundering that were made public on Wednesday.
Since Gutierrez-Ochoa, now 37, began working for CJNG in 2024, he has coordinated the transportation and distribution of approximately 40,000 kilograms of methamphetamine and 2,000 kilograms of cocaine bound for the United States in Mexico, according to prosecutors. He is alleged to have kidnapped two members of the Mexican Navy in November 2021 in an effort to secure the release of the wife of CJNG leader Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, aka El Mencho, who was arrested in Mexico.
Federal prosecutors said he fled to the United States, assumed a fictitious identity and took up residence in what authorities described as an upscale Riverside home that he allegedly bought with drug money.
“According to court documents, El Mencho may have aided Gutierrez-Ochoa in his plan to fake his own death by telling his co-workers that he had murdered Gutierrez-Ochoa because he lied to them,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a statement. mentioned in. “This allowed Gutierrez-Ochoa to infiltrate the United States with El Mencho’s daughter.”
Mexican cartel boss faked death to live in California, arrested on charges of international drug trafficking and money laundering
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— Criminal Division (@DOJCrimDiv) November 21, 2024
Oseguera Cervantes remains a fugitive. The U.S. State Department is offering a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to his arrest and/or conviction.
If convicted, Gutierrez-Ochoa faces a minimum sentence of 10 years and a maximum of life in prison for the drug distribution conspiracy charge, and a maximum sentence of 20 years for the money laundering conspiracy charge.
