Mexican drug cartel member accused of faking his death is sentenced to 11-plus years in US prison

WASHINGTON — A Mexican drug cartel member accused of faking his death to avoid capture was sentenced Thursday to more than 11 years in U.S. prison for his money laundering role in one of his home country's largest and most violent narcotics trafficking organizations.

Cristian Fernando Gutierrez-Ochoa was living in California under a phony identity when he was arrested in November 2024. The father of his longtime girlfriend is Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, the fugitive Jalisco New Generation boss known as El Mencho.

Gutierrez-Ochoa was wanted in Mexico on suspicion of kidnapping two Mexican Navy members in 2021 to secure the release of El Mencho's wife after she had been arrested by Mexican authorities, according to a Drug Enforcement Administration agent's affidavit.

U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell in Washington sentenced Gutierrez-Ochoa to 11 years and eight months in federal prison. Howell said the violent cartel, known by its Spanish-language acronym CJNG, also is a ''dangerous force'' in the United States.

''It's a dangerous way to make a living,'' Howell said. ''It's a dangerous way to live.''

Gutierrez-Ochoa told the judge that he accepts responsibility for his ''mistake.''

''I regret all of this,'' he said through a translator. ''Never again will I make a mistake like this in my life.''

''The CJNG kills, tortures, and corrupts to traffic staggering quantities of cocaine, methamphetamine and other drugs into the United States and elsewhere — all for profiting and enrichment, which in turn fund the cycle of violence, ravaging countless lives and communities,'' prosecutors wrote.

Gutierrez-Ochoa's lawyers asked for a seven-year prison sentence. They said he was remorseful and accepted responsibility for his criminal conduct.

''Mr. Gutierrez's rehabilitation is not performative," they wrote. "It reflects a young man who now fully understands the magnitude of his mistakes and who seeks to rebuild his life with integrity.''

El Mencho told associates that he killed Gutierrez-Ochoa for lying, but Gutierrez-Ochoa actually faked his death and fled from Mexico to Riverside, California, authorities have said. Gutierrez-Ochoa and his girlfriend, a U.S. citizen, lived ''a CJNG-sponsored life of abundance'' in a $1.2 million home purchased with laundered cartel money, according to prosecutors.

The State Department has offered a reward of up to $15 million for information leading to the arrest of El Mencho.

Howell has sentenced other CJNG leaders.