Thread: Mom of alleged teen hitman in Mexico pleads not guilty

Mom of alleged teen hitman in Mexico pleads not guilty to being in U.S. illegally

By Morgan Lee and Janine Zúñiga
Thursday, January 6, 2011 at 12:21 p.m.

SAN DIEGO — The mother of a 14-year-old San Diego-born boy accused of being a paid assassin for a drug gang in central Mexico pleaded not guilty in federal court Thursday to being in the United States illegally.

Yolanda Jimenez Lugo, 43, and her current husband, Gabriel Aguirre Manuel, 46, were arrested in San Diego by Border Patrol agents on Dec. 6, four days after Mexican troops captured her son from a previous relationship at an airport outside Mexico City attempting to board a flight to Tijuana and cross into the United States.

Aguirre also pleaded not guilty on Thursday to being in the United States illegally, but he and his wife are expected to change their pleas under negotiations with prosecutors, U.S. Magistrate Judge Ruben Brooks said. The two are expected back in court later this month.

Yolanda’s son, Edgar Jimenez Lugo, confessed in Mexico to participating in the beheadings of at least four gang rivals — and indicated that when he was arrested he was fleeing with an older sister in hopes of reaching their mother in San Diego. A sister who had taken the two to the airport also was arrested.

Border Patrol officials said news of the arrests of Edgar and his sisters led them to Yolanda’s second-story apartment in Logan Heights, where she and Aguirre were taken away in handcuffs.

The couple has two daughters, ages 9 and 10, who were born and raised in the United States, and are now being cared for by a relative in San Diego.

Yolanda and her husband will likely serve time in the United States but are almost certain to be deported. Aguirre hopes eventually to be reunited with his children in Mexico, said his attorney, Donald Nunn.

The head of the Border Patrol’s parent agency said the government acted appropriately in seeking out and arresting Edgar’s mother and her husband.

“When this alleged teen assassin was arrested in Mexico, you make inquiries,â€

How can someone who is proven to be here illegally able to plead not guilty? Wouldn't that be perjury?

Get em outta here!!! AFTER long jail sentences.