Mexican drug cartel member accused of faking his death to live in California arrested in Riverside

A high-ranking member of a powerful Mexican drug cartel accused of faking his own death to live in California under an assumed identity was arrested this week in Riverside.

Cristian Fernando Gutierrez-Ochoa, identified by federal prosecutors as member of the Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), was arrested Tuesday. He was charged in a criminal complaint unsealed Wednesday with international drug trafficking and money laundering offenses.

Since he started working for the CJNG in 2024, now 37-year-old Gutierrez-Ochoa coordinated the transportation and distribution of about 40,000 kilograms of methamphetamine and approximately 2,000 kilograms of cocaine in Mexico that was destined for the United States, according to prosecutors. He allegedly kidnapping two members of the Mexican Navy in November 2021 in an effort to secure the release of the wife of CJNG's leader -- Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, also known as El Mencho -- after her arrest in Mexico.

That's when he fled to the United States, assumed a fictional identity and took up residence in what authorities described as a luxury residence in Riverside, which was allegedly bought with drug trafficking money, federal prosecutors said.

"According to court documents, El Mencho may have assisted Gutierrez-Ochoa in his scheme to fake his own death by telling associates that El Mencho murdered Gutierrez-Ochoa for lying," the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a statement. "This helped Gutierrez-Ochoa sneak into the United States to be with El Mencho's daughter."

Oseguera Cervantes remains a fugitive. The U.S. Department of State is offering a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to his arrest and/or conviction.

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If convicted, Gutierrez-Ochoa faces a mandatory minimum penalty of 10 years in prison and a maximum penalty of life in prison on the drug distribution conspiracy charge, and a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison on the money laundering conspiracy charge.