Mencho's Daughter Given 15 More Months in US Prison

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Note: This is a developing story and will be updated. 

On Friday, June 11 2021, a United States court handed down a 30-month prison sentence (please see update, this is actually with time served so 15 months left on her sentence) for Jessica Joahanna Oseguera González, the daughter of Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes alias “El Mencho” who is the leader of the Cartel Jalisco New Generation (CJNG).

Judge Beryl A. Howell, the Chief United States District Judge for the District of Columbia (Washington DC) sentenced Jessica Oseguera to 2 years and 6 months. This comes after she pled guilty to charges related to the handling of financial operations related to the CJNG.

Earlier, US prosecutors had requested that the sentence against Jessica Oseguera, alias "La Negra" be 51 months. Prosecutor Brett Reynolds says she is an accomplice to the high levels of violence that the CJNG creates both in Mexico and the US. The US authorities have stated that with this sentence they send a message to drug traffickers and the people involved with them that "they will pay for their crimes."

Jessica Oseguera's legal process began with her lawyer arguing that she should be released or her sentence reduced according to time served, saying that "she has already learned her lesson and will not commit a crime again."

She is a a dual US - Mexican citizen as she was born in California, presumably during the time when her father lived in the San Francisco area. She is currently 33 years old. She was arrested in February 2020 at a federal courthouse in Washington DC while she was attempting to attend the trial of her brother Rubén Oseguera González.

Possibly a new or rarely seen image of Jessica Joahanna Oseguera González, via Infobae.

At the same moment that Rubén Oseguera was pleading not guilty before a federal judge, his sister Jessica was being handcuffed for her participation in financial operations related to the CJNG. She was allegedly arrested while wearing a Rolex watch, a Louis Vuitton coat and an Hermes handbag which contained large amounts of US cash.

After a person has been found guilty or had pled guilty, it is common practice for friends and family of the accused to send letters to the judge in charge of sentencing. These letters usually comment positively on the character of the accused and how they will be supported after sentencing. The idea behind this is that if a person is well loved and supported by their community, their reintegration into society will go smoother therefore these letters can reduce the sentence a judge is likely to give.

Reportedly Jessica Oseguera has had 60 letters sent to Judge Howell by people asking for leniency in her sentencing. Rosalinda Gonzalez Valencia, mother of Jessica and Rubén, reportedly wrote to the judge saying "With all my heart may it be fair in the sentencing of my daughter, Jessica, as we miss her children, her nieces and nephews and all her friends."

Update 6/11/2021 5:00PM CST:

Courier Journal reports that 30 months is with time served and she has served 15 months so far. Which would leave her with only 15 months left. Jessica is reported to have an older son and a 5 year old daughter. 

Some direct text excerpts from the Courier Journal article, written by Beth Warren: 

Steven J. McCool's request to recommend sending his client to a prison camp at FCI Dublin in Dublin, California. Placement decisions are made by the federal Bureau of Prisons.

Prosecutors accused La Negra of lying to the probation officer who prepared a report on her legal and social background to the judge before her sentencing. They claim they have evidence indicating she helped provide bookkeeping services for the "ruthless and violent" cartel at the behest of her father.

They allege that El Mencho, 54, instructed her to manage the resort, Las Flores Cabañas, located in the plush mountains of Tapalpa, a city in the western state of Jalisco, the headquarters of CJNG. The witness claimed El Mencho met with his daughter at the resort in 2011 and directed her to review drug accounting ledgers "so that she could confront a cartel member who was suspected of stealing from the cartel," prosecutors allege in court documents.

La Negra insists she hasn't seen her father since she was 11 years old and living in San Francisco. She said he separated from her mother in 1996 when he was deported. That was the third time El Mencho was deported and after he served more than four years in prison for selling heroin to two undercover officers at Imperial Bar in Los Angeles.

Prosecutors claim they have a key witness who would have testified if La Negra had gone to trial about seeing her and her father at the 2011 meeting as well as another meeting several months after the deadly shootout with law enforcement.

The witness claims the second meeting was at a ranch, where El Mencho and his daughter had a discussion "concerning a discrepancy about money purportedly owed to the cartel and reflected in ledgers" handled by La Negra. Several court documents in the case remain sealed and those that are accessible don't elaborate about where that meeting allegedly took place or who the cartel leader blamed for the missing money.

"Ms. Gonzalez admits that the entities she associated with were designated for supporting drug trafficking and specifically the CJNG," her attorney, Steven J. McCool wrote in court documents. "Ms. Gonzalez does not accept the claim that she met with her father."

Prosecutors argued that La Negra knew she was in the wrong because she spent years trying to avoid Kingpin Act sanctions, moving the sushi restaurant and disbanding two businesses. They claim she also renamed the cabana resort, later called Cabañas La Loma, to try and fool U.S. investigators.

Sources: Politico, La Opinion, Infobae, Borderland Beat Archives 

Updates Sources: Courier Journal (Paywall)