Cristian Fernando Gutiérrez Ochoa, an operative and one of the protégés of Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, alias ‘El Mencho,’ leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, could spend 14 years in prison for laundering millions of dollars for the criminal network headed by his girlfriend’s father.
After serving his sentence, he is scheduled to be deported to Mexico, where he is accused of the 2021 kidnapping of two Mexican marines, allegedly in retaliation for the arrest of El Mencho’s wife, Rosalinda González Valencia.
The Mexican national, originally from Zamora, Michoacán, will be sentenced on December 18, following his arrest in November 2024 in California, where he was living under the alias Luis Miguel Martínez. He is currently being held at the Northern Neck Correctional Facility in Virginia.
The 28-year-old was charged with two counts: trafficking cocaine and methamphetamine, as well as money laundering. However, he negotiated a plea deal to have the drug trafficking charge dismissed in exchange for pleading guilty to money laundering. On June 20, he formally pleaded guilty before Judge Beryl A. Howell.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has requested a sentence of 168 months, or 14 years, for the money laundering charge. His defense, on the other hand, is asking for 84 months, or seven years. If the U.S. justice system prevails, he could be released from prison as late as 2038.
