How Mencho's Son-in-Law Fled to California After Faking His Death

"Socalj" for Borderland Beat

In 2020, social media and narco news outlets reported on the death of "El Mencho." Such rumors have been commonly thrown around with these elusive drug lords who have been out of the public eye for decades. It is believed the leader of CJNG was receiving treatments for his kidneys.

A few years later, a similar death rumor was being spread within the CJNG organization itself, that someone very close to "El Mencho," and his family was recently killed because he had lied to the leader of the CJNG. 

This rumor soon spread to the intended ears of Mexican and US law enforcement. Cristian Fernando Gutiérrez-Ochoa, better known as "El Gaucho" was dead...that is until on November 19, 2024 when he was arrested in a luxury home in Riverside, California, living under the name of Luis Miguel Martinez.

Mencho's family had spread the rumor of Cristian's death after heat came down after a pair of Mexican Navy elements were kidnapped and held following the arrest of Rosalinda, the wife of "El Mencho." It is believed their daughter Laisha and her boyfriend were responsible for orchestrating the kidnapping. 

The rumors allowed Cristian to travel to the United States under a false passport and live in California for the past year.

This morning, Cristian appeared in US federal court where the judge agreed to his being transferred to Washington DC court next week.

Mencho's Son-in-Law

According to the indictment, Gutiérrez-Ochoa joined the CJNG in 2014 and is accused of conspiring to import thousands of kilograms of methamphetamine and cocaine into the United States.

He is currently being held in the Los Angeles Metro Detention Center on an out of district warrant from Washington DC federal court. According to BOP inmate records and court documents, Cristian is 27 years old. However multiple news outlets and news reports claim him to be 37, primarily based on his stature within CJNG and having over a decade of involvement.

Gutiérrez Ochoa’s father as Jose Luis Gutiérrez Valencia, “Don Chelo,” a veteran drug trafficker arrested in Mexico in 2015. It is believed that one of Cristian's sister is married to "El Menchito."

He would have began working with the cartel at an early age of 17 in 2013. According to US court records, Laisha Michelle was born in 2001, putting her at 23 years old, a closer age to Cristian being 27. If Cristian is in fact 37 as previously reported, and his relationship would have begun with Laisha in 2021 at the latest, she was 19 or 20 and he was 34 then

Leaked personal photos of the couple show them off-roading. Later photos of Cristian however leads one to believe that he is in his 30s. During an intercepted call with CJNG plaza bosses, "El Mencho" referred to "Gaucho" as one of his most trusted allies.

SEMAR Kidnapping Aftermath

Prosecutors say Cristian faked his own death and fled to the United States to avoid Mexican authorities after the kidnapping of two elements of the Mexican Navy in November 2021. The kidnapping was done with the hopes of securing the release of "El Mencho's" wife, Rosalinda, after she had been detained by Mexican authorities.

The soldiers were kidnapped from their Jeep while parked outside of a Wal Mart in Zapopan, Jalisco when their Captain was shopping inside. After a massive search took place, the Mexican Marines were released.

At this time it was reported that the kidnapping was orchestrated by daughter Laisha Michelle and her boyfriend Cristian. It is not known if they were married at the time. On November 30, 2021, Laisha was granted an Amparo by a Jalisco judge against being arrested for crimes that don't warrant preventative detention.

"El Mencho" with youngest daugher Laisha and "El Menchito"

Little was known or even reported about Laisha or Cristian before the kidnappings. In an investigation carried out in 2019 in the Public Registry of Property and Commerce, Zeta Tijuana found that Laisha's name appears as the owner of some properties in Tijuana.

One of these properties was in the Jardines de Chapultepec subdivision, Tijuana, which was designated as part of the assets of Mencho's youngest daughter. Laisha, Jessica Johana, and her mother, Rosalía González acquired several residences in Playas de Tijuana between 1998 and 2009, some of which are insured by the Attorney General's Office (FGR), according to Zeta Tijuana.

Rosalinda was recently released from preventative detention in Mexico after multiple money laundering charges failed to proceed.

Death Rumors

Gutierrez-Ochoa is accused of living in the United States using a false name, after faking his death. Court documents showed that Gutierrez-Ochoa lived under the name Luis Miguel Martinez.

Cristian reportedly went missing in Mexico in December 2023. Rumor had it that he was murdered for lying to his wife’s father, "El Mencho." A DEA confidential source later reported that Gutierrez-Ochoa had gone missing, murdered by his father-in-law. By that time, he had already been in the United States. 

Authorities believe he entered the US via a clandestine tunnel located in Tijuana.

The cartel leader himself is believed to have told his associates that he had killed Gutierrez-Ochoa for having lied to him, according to court documents. This helped Gutierrez-Ochoa create a life of his own in the United States to be with his wife, "El Mencho's" daughter, Laisha Michelle Oseguera González who is a US citizen.

Databases indicated that Gutierrez-Ochoa used a Social Security number under the name Luis Miguel Martinez to apply for a driver's license in the US in September 2023. After running a credit report, the Social Security number was issued in 1992, and was being used by a third party.

Tequila Company Funds

In a legal statement by a DEA agent, the residence where the cartel leader lived was within an exclusive neighborhood in Riverside, California. The property was purchased in 2023 for $1.2 million in cash by Pasión Azul, a tequila manufacturer based in Mexico, that is allegedly being used as a money laundering front for the cartel, according to an affidavit from Agent Kyle Mori of the DEA’s Los Angeles office.

Investigators believe that Pasión Azul, based in Atotonilco El Alto, Jalisco, and several related corporations were used with the intention of purchasing properties like the residence since sufficient liquidity, or cash on hand is needed to avoid bank loan mortgages or leases. According to court documents, the Riverside home was purchased with the intention of Cristian and Laisha moving into the McMansion.

According to its website, Pasión Azul SA de CV, is a company founded in 2015 by Víctor Alfonso Camacho Ortega, and is dedicated to offering agricultural services focused on the management and cultivation of agave for large tequila producers.

The company mentions working with renowned brands such as Don Julio, Pernod Ricard, Tequila Herradura, Sauza and José Cuervo but has very little social media content and following.

Owner Victor Alfonso Camacho Ortega is also listed as the legal representative for several other companies (53 in total) in the tequila and spirits industry in Mexico. Victor has denied any relationship to Cristian or the CJNG.

In response to the allegations, Camacho Ortega, through his lawyer, Víctor Beltrán García, filed an Amparo in Jalisco to prevent any legal action against him. Beltrán García defended his client's reputation, stating, "Victor Alfonso Camacho Ortega is an honorable man, who follows the law in his transactions and creates jobs in Mexico," according to a Publimetro report.

It should be noted that the attorney for Pasión Azul/Ortega was sanctioned by the United States in 2019 for facilitating corruption for the financial arm of CJNG, Los Cuinis.

A DEA informant who worked for "El Mencho" around 2010 and 2011 revealed that he sought land in Jalisco for cultivating blue agave for tequila production, including for Pasión Azul. The informant claimed El Mencho used extortion and violence to eliminate rival agave producers.

California Living

The luxury home was purchased in November of last year for $1.2 million in Riverside, California. Homes at that price in the area are usually large McMansions, built in the mid 2000s, with a fair amount of land. The Riverside home was just over 3,800 sq. ft.

Seen outside Gutierrez-Ochoa's residence, several luxury cars were parked. They were described by a DEA agent as BMWs with Mexican license plates. While some of the vehicles may not be too out of the ordinary for the wealthy neighborhood, neighbors and the real estate agent who sold the home were suspicious.

The property's real estate agent was interviewed as part of the investigation, according to the statement. He said the circumstances surrounding the home's purchase were "suspicious." The homeowners prior to Gutierrez-Ochoa living there believed the buyers were "drug dealers," the statement said.

According to the court documents "El Mencho's" youngest daugher Laisha owns a coffee shop in Perris, a smaller community near Riverside. Her name does not appear on any company/corporate records in the state of California.

In April 2021 she wrote, together with her mother and a cousin, a letter addressed to a federal judge to request that her sister, Jessica Oseguera González, "La Negra" receive a reduced sentence. Jessica was arrested after appearing at her brother's first hearing after being extradited from Mexico.

In the letter, Laisha indicated that at that time she was studying the third semester of the Business Administration and Entrepreneurship degree.

She has not been arrested or charged.

Interpol Red Notice & Arrest Warrant

According to court documents, Gutierrez-Ochoa coordinated shipments of approximately 40 metric tons of meth and over 2,000 kilograms of cocaine in Mexico, all destined for the United States. During the trial of "El Cuini" Abigail González Valencia, thousands of Blackberry messages were intercepted including many with a "El Palomo" user who DEA has identified as being Cristian Gutierrez-Ochoa.

Based on an arrest warrant tied to the double kidnapping, the Mexican government in September 2022 issued an Interpol Red Notice seeking the detention of Gutierrez-Ochoa.

In October 2024, the DEA in Los Angeles learned of the Interpol notice and began an investigation to locate him. He was quickly identified through a facial recognition system run by the Department of Homeland Security using known photos of Cristian and found they matched that of Luis Miguel Martinez, according to the affidavit.

Counter Surveillance Techniques

As DEA agents attempted to conduct surveillance of Gutierrez-Ochoa, Mori said, he began employing counter-surveillance and evasion techniques and later began following an agent. The DEA had tapped his phones according to court documents (it was not specified if these were cellphones, landlines or likely both) but Cristian employed devices and tech to detect the wiretaps.

Authorities arrested him on Nov. 19, 2024. More than $2 million in cash, as well as a ghost gun were found in Gutierrez Ochoa's Riverside home.

Lawyer Anthony E Colombo Jr.'s father in the 1970s.

Cristian's lawyer defending him during these proceedings is the same attorney hired by "El Menchito" Anthony Colombo, Jr. has long represented Oseguera family members in the US and also defended AFO founder Benjamin Arrellano-Felix in California over a decade ago. Colombo is the grandson of infamous LCN leader Joe Colombo, who was assassinated in the 1970s.

Ruben Oseguera, known as "El Menchito," was convicted in September by a U.S. federal court on charges of using violence, including the fatal downing of a military helicopter, to help his father run one of the country's largest and most dangerous drug trafficking organizations.

Initially, the son of "El Mencho" was planning to plead guilty to the charges as part of a plea deal. But as proceedings dragged on, he changed lawyers and decided to proceed to a trial, which saw many traffickers turned witnesses including Valencia relatives testify towards his conviction.

Sources DOJ, Borderland Beat, ABC7, ABC7, Borderland Beat, Open Sanctions, LA Times, Illicit Investigations, Infobae, Mona Edwards