A high-ranking member of a Mexican cartel who was living in Riverside under an alias was arrested Tuesday on federal charges, according to the US Justice Department.
Cristian Fernando Gutierrez-Ochoa, 37, was charged for international drug trafficking and money laundering. Gutierrez-Ochoa is a member of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) and is the son-in-law of the cartel’s leader, Nemesio Oseguera-Cervantes, also known as “El Mencho.”
“Over the last decade, Cristian Gutierrez-Ochoa, a close associate of CJNG’s top leader, 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,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.
Court documents claim Ochoa-Guiterrez is personally responsible for the transportation and distribution of some 40 thousand kilograms of methamphetamine and approximately 2,000 kilograms of cocaine in Mexico, all destined for the United States.
Sometime around November 2021, Gutierrez-Ochoa allegedly kidnapped two members of the Mexican Navy in an attempt to secure the release of El Mencho’s wife, who had been arrested by Mexican authorities. After being sought by Mexican authorities, Gutierrez-Ochoa allegedly assumed a fake identity, and lived in a luxury home in Riverside, California that was purchased with cartel money.
Court documents also say El Mencho may have assisted Guitierrez-Ochoa in faking his own death by telling associates he murdered Gutierrez-Ochoa for lying. The U.S. Department of State is offering a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to El Mencho's arrest or conviction. El Mencho is still a fugitive.
Gutierrez-Ochoa is charged with conspiracy to distribute cocaine andmethamphetamine. He is also charged with conspiracy to launder CJNG’s drug trafficking proceeds. If convicted, he faces a minimum ten years in prison and a maximum of life in prison on the drug distribution conspiracy charge, and up to 20 years for the money laundering conspiracy charge.