"Socalj" for Borderland Beat
"El Menchito" refused to betray his mother to reduce his sentence in the US, revealed journalist Ángel Hernández. The journalist interviewed one of Rubén Oseguera González's lawyers, who told him what the Prosecutor's Office was asking for. "El Menchito" was sentenced to life in prison last week after refusing to cooperate with the U.S. Attorney's Office. Initially, a plea deal was said to be in the works until Ruben ubruptly announced a change in defense lawyers and withdrawal of a plea.
He went to trial and was convicted and sentenced to life in prison, plus 30 years. The exact reason for not taking the deal, unlike other kin of high level traffickers extradited to the US was not known until now.
According to journalist Ángel Hernández, who interviewed lawyers Anthony Colombo and Jan Ronis, the son of "El Mencho" did not even have to think about it and immediately rejected the government's proposal.
His attorneys confirmed that the United States government offered their client a lesser sentence in exchange for revealing information against his mother, Rosalinda González Valencia, who was recently released from prison in Mexico the same day as the mass expulsion of 29 drug cartel figures to the US.
Attorney Anthony Colombo, grandson of infamous LCN mobster Joe Colombo, stated that the offer was within standard practice in the U.S. judicial system. “In most high-profile criminal prosecutions in U.S. federal courts, cooperation is offered to those accused of crimes. Such an offer was made to Mr. Oseguera, but it was conditioned on his first agreement to cooperate against his mother,” he said.
Prosecutor's had promised to request a lesser sentence as long as he collaborated with information that could allow the authorities to put together a file against his mother Rosalinda González Valencia and thereby request her extradition, since at that time "El Mencho's" wife was at risk of being released from custody in Mexico. She was sentenced to 5 years in prison in Mexico for money laundering and was released this past month after serving 2/3 of her sentence.
After Oseguera refused to cooperate with the government, negotiations stalled. The defense attorney's recommended he accept the charges as is. Then, on April 6, 2023, he signed an agreement acknowledging the crimes he was accused of, but the day before formalizing this agreement, "El Menchito" decided to go to trial.
“He understood the situation he was in, and he requested that we fight for his best interests, and we pursued that. In terms of his representation, the difficulty never came from our client; the difficulty came from some of the facts presented to us during the case and prior to his representation,” Colombo noted.
Rosalinda, "El Mencho's" wife is now free in Mexico having been released on February 27, 2025 the same day that saw many other Mexican traffickers sent to the US.
Their son is currently being held at the federal detention center in Philadelphia, preparing to be transferred once all appeals have been lost to serve his life sentence.
Sources Infobae, Borderland Beat, Borderland Beat
Categories: CJNG, menchito, Rosalinda Gonzalez Valencia