Parked outside were luxury cars, including a BMW and another car with Mexican license plates. His real name, investigators say, is Cristian Fernando Gutierrez-Ochoa, and he is a son-in-law of the reputed Mexican drug lord known as El Mencho. Federal authorities arrested the purported dead man in Riverside on Tuesday, charging Gutierrez-Ochoa with international drug trafficking and money laundering offenses. Gutierrez-Ochoa allegedly kidnapped two members of the Mexican Navy around November 2021 in an attempt to secure the release of his mother-in-law, El Mencho’s wife, who had been arrested by Mexican authorities. Authorities suspect El Mencho assisted Gutierrez-Ochoa by spreading the rumor in the scheme to fake his own death.

Source: Los Angeles Times November 22, 2024 22:11 UTC