Thread: 14-Year-Old San Diego Native Arrested for 7 Cartel Murders

14-Year-Old San Diego Native Arrested for 7 Cartel Murders in Mexico

Last Update: 10:42 am

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Edgar Jimenez Lugo, "El Ponchis"

CUERNAVACA, Mexico (AP) -- A Mexican state governor says a 14-year-old suspected of working as a killer for drug gangs is a U.S. citizen.

Morelos Gov. Marco Adame Castillo says the 14-year-old was born in San Diego, California.

Castillo said Friday that officials are researching whether he a citizen of Mexico as well. Although state courts handle crimes by juveniles in Mexico, state authorities have asked the federal government to take over the case because of the gravity of his crimes.

The teen, nicknamed "El Ponchis," told reporters early Friday he has worked for a drug cartel since he was 11 and that he participated in at least four decapitations.

The much-rumored alleged young assassin nicknamed "El Ponchis" was captured late Thursday at the airport near Cuernavaca (map) with his 16-year-old sister as they tried to catch a flight to Tijuana and flee the country, said the official, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case.

The sister told reporters that they planned to cross the border to San Diego, California, where their mother lives.

The two were brought to the office of the Mexican Attorney General's Office in Cuernavaca early Friday, where the boy told reporters that he had participated in at least four decapitations. The source said his sister was accused of getting rid of the bodies by dumping them on streets and freeways.

"I participated in four executions, but I did it drugged and under threat that if I didn't, they would kill me," said the teen, who appeared calm and showed no remorse.

Photo believed to be Edgar Jimenez Lugo, "El Ponchis," when he was 12 years old.

Another teenage sister accompanied the two, but officials said she was not suspected of being involved in the cartels.

"El Ponchis" wore blue jeans and a T-shirt and the detained sister jeans and a sweater when they were apprehended. Their airline tickets were already purchased.

The army did not specify where they were detained in the airport or whether they had already passed through security checks.

The attorney general for Morelos state said the two would turned over to state authorities, who handle crimes committed by minors in Mexico.

The two were suspected of helping the South Pacific Cartel headed by Hector Beltran Leyva, brother of Arturo Beltran Leyva, a top drug lord who was killed by Mexican marines in Cuernavaca a year ago.

The boy said Friday he had been employed by the cartel since he was eleven years old.

Rumors that have circulated for weeks of a killer named "El Ponchis" as young as 12 years old.

Hector Beltran Leyva's fight for control of the cartel has caused a major spike in violence in the state just south of Mexico City, and in neighboring Guerrero state, where the resort of Acapulco is located.

The siblings were living in a poor neighborhood of Jiutepec, a working-class suburb of Cuernavaca, known as a weekend getaway for Mexico City residents. The are has an industrial area with Nissan, Unilever and other factories, rustic single-level concrete homes and some farms.

Neighbors said the mother has worked in the San Diego area for some time, but none had information about the teenagers' father.
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http://www.sandiego6.com/news/local/sto ... px?rss=800

Youth sought in Mexico killings arrested

Edgar Jimenez Lugo, who authorities said was born in San Diego, was wanted on suspicion of killing rivals — allegedly beheading some — as part of his work for a violent drug-trafficking cartel.

By Tracy Wilkinson, Los Angeles Times
December 3, 2010|7:00 p.m.

Reporting from Mexico City — A 14-year-old boy who says he's been killing or working for drug cartels since he was 11 has been captured by the Mexican army after a monthlong hunt, authorities said Friday.

Edgar Jimenez Lugo, who authorities said was born in San Diego, was wanted on suspicion of killing rivals — allegedly beheading some of them — as part of his work for an especially violent drug-trafficking cartel.

Jimenez was attempting to board a flight for Tijuana with two sisters Thursday night when authorities detained him in Morelos state south of Mexico City. They were apparently planning to flee the country after the boy's alleged exploits made headlines last month.

"I've killed four people by chopping off their heads," the boy reportedly said after his capture. "I just cut off their heads; I never went and hung the bodies from bridges or anything like that."

Jimenez, alias El Ponchis, was quoted in media reports as saying he had been forced to work for a faction of the Beltran Leyva drug cartel under pain of death ever since henchmen from the group kidnapped him three years ago. He said he was usually high on drugs as he killed.

Marco Antonio Adame, the governor of Morelos, said in a news conference that Jimenez was a U.S. citizen by virtue of his San Diego birth.

The story of the boy had become something of a cause celebre here when it first emerged several weeks ago. Rumors abounded that he was a ruthless decapitator and that some of his work had been videotaped. (Initial reports erroneously put his age at 12.) Mexican media immediately dubbed him "the boy killer" and "the hit boy."

Photographs from Morelos on Friday showed a skinny Jimenez, dressed in baggy cargo pants and a black sweatshirt, standing between two well-armed soldiers in camouflage. His hands are stuck in his pockets and his head barely clears their shoulders.

The drug gang he allegedly worked for, the so-called South Pacific Cartel, has been locked in deadly battle with another Beltran Leyva faction for control of the city of Cuernavaca and other parts of Morelos — a dispute that erupted following the killing of drug boss Arturo Beltran Leyva by Mexican forces a year ago. More than 300 people have been killed in the conflict.

Jimenez reportedly ran with a group of boys and men ages 12 to 23 and represents a trend of ever younger Mexicans working for the cartels as killers, mules and enforcers and in other capacities. If judged guilty, the boy would be the youngest cartel killer known to be in prison.

His age poses a legal dilemma for Mexican authorities, who on Friday were scrambling to figure out which laws and agencies would handle a minor suspected of such egregious crimes.

Also Friday, in another setback for Mexican attempts to put away drug traffickers, a judge acquitted the nicknamed "Queen of the Pacific" of numerous drug-related charges. Sandra Avila Beltran has been in jail since her capture in 2007, accused of serving as a key link between the Sinaloa cartel and its Colombian counterparts. A rare woman in the world of reputed drug lords, Avila remained in custody because of an outstanding extradition request from the United States.

wilkinson@latimes.com

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld ... 9113.story

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Mexican army detains 14-year-old suspected killer

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-220111.html

Sounds like an anchor baby.

Dixie

Originally Posted by Dixie

Sounds like an anchor baby.

Dixie

Ditto Dixie!

Is mom still collecting welfare benefits for the kids who are not living with her?

Originally Posted by TakingBackSoCal

Is mom still collecting welfare benefits for the kids who are not living with her?

I don't doubt it! We'll never know though because laws are set up to protect their privacy.

The local media is now saying that the "mother" living in San Diego is actually a step-mother.
Still no info on the father.

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U.S. Citizen 17, Cartel Member, Charged with Murder

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-220159.html

Could he be just another Anchor Baby the United States has been blessed to pay for with taxpayer money? The Anchor Baby most likely speaks English but the ILLEGAL parents never had a reason to learn English, they have survived on the backs of United States Taxpayers and their Anchors will continue the Family Tradition. Our Past President was always proud to claim how lucky for the United States that the Family Values of the ILLEGALS did not stop when they scurried across our National Borders!