When a man who called himself Luis Miguel Martinez moved into a $1.2-million home in an exclusive Riverside neighborhood in 2023, he brought standard luxuries. Parked outside were luxury cars, including a BMW and another car with Mexican license plates.
But after his arrest this week by federal authorities, neighbors learned that Martinez was allegedly an alias. 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 . Gutierrez-Ochoa, a high-ranking member of the Jalisco New Generation cartel, or CJNG, went missing in Mexico in December 2023, reportedly murdered for lying to his wife’s father, Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes.
Federal authorities arrested the purported dead man in Riverside on Tuesday, charging Gutierrez-Ochoa with international drug trafficking and money laundering offenses. Court records do not indicate whether he has retained a lawyer or entered a plea in response to the charges. “The Jalisco Cartel — one of the world’s most violent and prolific drug trafficking organizations — is weaker today because of the tenacious efforts of law enforcement to track down and arrest a cartel leader who allegedly faked his own death and assumed a false identity to evade justice and live a life of luxury in California,” Deputy Atty.
Gen. Lisa Monaco said in a statement. Gutierrez-Ochoa, 37, allegedly began working for the CJNG around 2014, and later married El Mencho’s youn.