Court Refuses to Accept Motion Issued by Judge Suspected of Working for the CJNG

"Morogris" for Borderland Beat (formerly "MX")

Isidro Avelar Gutiérrez is imprisoned in the state of Nayarit, where the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) holds a strong influence (photo credit: USDT; photo editing: HEARST from Borderland Beat)

A Mexican court rejected a motion issued by Isidro Avelar Gutierrez, a federal judge accused by the US and Mexico of having ties to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG).

The motion issued by Avelar Gutierrez's defense team asked for the court to release him because he argued that the judge who ordered his imprisonment had no jurisdiction to decide on his case.

He is suspected of receiving bribes in exchange for favorable court rulings to senior CJNG members. The prosecution alleges that Avelar Gutierrez generated over $12.2 million pesos (approximately US$604,350) from illegal streams.

Earlier this year, Borderland Beat reported that presiding judge Juan Miguel Ortiz Marmolejo from the State of Mexico said that the case presented was strong enough to take Avelar Gutiérrez to trial. 

US authorities assured that Avelar Gutiérrez had ties with the CJNG and its financial cell Los Cuinis. They said he was collaborating with the former Governor of Nayarit, Roberto Sandoval Castañeda. The latter was specifically accused of misappropriation of state assets and of receiving bribes just like Avelar Gutiérrez.

Background

On November 28, 2019, Avelar Gutiérrez was formally charged and admitted to the Federal Social Readaptation Center No. 4 (also known as "El Rincón") a maximum-security prison in the municipality of Tepic, Nayarit.

Avelar Gutiérrez was also sanctioned under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act by the  United States Treasury Department for his suspected money laundering links to the CJNG boss Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes ("El Mencho").

Almost simultaneously, Mexico's Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF) froze Avelar Gutiérrez's bank accounts after they noticed there was a deposit for MXN$70 million, an amount that did not coincide with the income he received by the Mexican government.

The case against Avelar Gutiérrez was opened after authorities detected cases in which judges were holding properties and other assets that did not match their income. Investigators concluded that these judges were likely receiving money from organized crime members in exchange for favorable resolutions in their trials.

Between 2010 and 2016, Avelar Gutiérrez acquired assets of more than MXN$18 million. During this time, he ordered the release of Juan Francisco Aguilar Santana ("Juan Pistolas"), one of the closet men of El Mencho.

According to the investigation, Avelar Gutiérrez was in charge of the Sixth Unitary Court of the Third Circuit based in Jalisco, and attended at least 10 cases of detainees linked to the CJNG, resulting in a result in favor of many of its members.

In the case of Juan Pistolas, Avelar Gutiérrez said that the prosecution did not have enough evidences to keep him in prison and ordered his release. Juan Pistolas was arrested in June 2018 possession of multiple military-exclusive firearms, two grenade launchers and narcotics. He was a repeat offender since he was arrested in 2010 and had spent seven years in jail for drug trafficking.

At the time of his arrest, Juan Pistolas was one of the assassin squad leaders of the CJNG. His men recruited people to train as sicarios, and his areas of operations were Guadalajara and Tlajomulco de Zúñiga.

On May 13, 2019, Santiago Nieto Castillo, head of the UIF, reported that MXN$50 million were seized from a federal judge as part of an anti-organized crime investigation. Although he did not identify him by his name, everything suggested that the money was owned by Avelar Gutiérrez because the UIF confirmed the judge was based in Jalisco.

However, the Juan Pistolas case was not the only one of its kind. There are others in which the same judge ruled the release of at least 10 defendants who allegedly belong to the CJNG, including Rubén Oseguera González "El Menchito", son of El Mencho.

In his 20-year career as a judge, Avelar Gutiérrez also handled the cases of Rafael Caro Quintero and Rogelio González Pizaña, former early Zetas member from the 1990s.

Mexico City-based newspaper Reforma stated that the UIF is also investigating Avelar Gutiérrez for a suspicious account he owned in HSBC where over MXN$12 million in deposits were made in November 2011.

The judge said that the money was a payment he received for the sale of a property, but investigators maintain that the sale was made in August 2012, several months after the deposit.

Sources: Milenio; Borderland Beat archives