Top Mexican Cartel Leader Sentenced To More Than 10 Years In Prison For Faking His Death To Avoid Capture

Cristian Fernando Gutierrez-Ochoa, a top Jalisco Cartel leader, has been sentenced to 11 years in prison after faking his death to avoid capture.

CBS News noted that Gutierrez-Ochoa has been accused of being involved in money laundering operations. Nicole Argentieri, a senior Justice Department official, said the man "allegedly directed the importation of tons of methamphetamine and cocaine into the United States and engaged in violence to aid the cartel's criminal activities."

He was arrested in November last year while living in California under a fake identity. He was also wanted in Mexico for allegedly being involved in the kidnapping of two Mexican Navy members in 2021.

U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell sentenced Gutierrez-Ochoa saying the Jalisco Cartel is a "dangerous force in the U.S." "It's a dangerous way to make a living," he added.

Gutierrez-Ochoa, on his end, pleaded guilty in June and said he accepted his responsibility and regretted his actions. "Never again will I make a mistake like this in my life."

Prosecutors had requested a 14-year prison sentence. They described him as a dangerous operative secretly embedded in the U.S. "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," they wrote.