A cartel member, arrested for running an El Paso drug ring, is now facing 50 years in Mexican prison for her role in a brutal murder.
Michelle Angelica Pineda, or “La Chely,” was sentenced to 50 years in prison by a judge in Chihuahua, Mexico, the FBI announced December 30.
She was sentenced alongside five other sicarios from “Artistas Assessino,” of the Sinaloa cartel, for the gruesome 2023 murder of Jorge Rentería Rodríguez.
The FBI busted Pineda in El Paso in 2024, after she entered America illegally and was running a drug ring on behalf of the cartel, according to a press release. Officials deported her to Mexico, where they hoped she would face justice.
“The deportation highlighted the swift action of our agents and our partners by successfully taking a violent assassin off the streets of El Paso and putting her back into the hands of Mexican law enforcement to be sentenced for her extremely violent atrocities,” said FBI-El Paso Special Agent in Charge Jarod Brown in the release.
Sacrifice to ‘Santa Muerte’
Pineda was convicted of murdering Rodríguez and sacrificing his heart to the Mexican “folk saint” Santa Muerte, according to the El Paso Times. The codefendants were identified only as Felix Ivan L.C., Jaqueline S.B., Joana Michelle A.G., and Jorge G.M.
They allegedly dismembered Rodríguez and removed his heart as an offering to Santa Muerte on December 5, 2023. This happened in a house near Hacienda de Las Torres on the southeastern edge of Ciudad Juárez – just across the border, and less than one hour away from El Paso.
The suspects reportedly cut his body into pieces and placed the remains in plastic bags, before dumping them near the El Mezquital area of the city. According to the El Paso Times, a Chihuahua state prosecutor initially claimed the group was suspected of more than 20 murders.
“Pineda was known for her extreme brutality, such as dismembering bodies, removing hearts, and placing the hearts in front of ‘Santa Muerte’ altars and statues,” the release reads.
Her group, “Artistas Assessino,” is known as a drug trafficking organization and the Sinaloa cartel’s enforcement arm in Juarez, according to the Department of Justice.
“Santa Muerte” – in English, “Saint Death” – is the Mexican folk saint of drug dealers.
The Catholic church has condemned the saint as heretical, but followers of the cult sometimes offer sacrifices to the being in exchange for protection. A human trafficker in Georgia allegedly used a Santa Muerte statue as a “prelude” to murder.
Running Drugs in Texas
Investigators learned Pineda had entered America illegally, and was running a drug trafficking ring on behalf of “Artistas Assessino,” according to the release. The Mexican government wanted her for her role in at least five murders.
Border Patrol agents and FBI-El Paso Safe Streets Gang Task Force members found and arrested Pineda at a local motel on February 15, 2024. Officers with Customs and Border Protection and the El Paso Police Department’s Gang Unit also helped with the bust.
Early that morning, law enforcement found guns, machetes, fentanyl pills and powder, heroin, cocaine, Xanax, and methamphetamine in Pineda’s hotel room, according to the release.
Border Patrol agents arrested her, brought her to the Mexican border, and handed her off to Chihuahua State Police and the State Attorney General of Chihuahua.
The FBI’s Safe Street Task Force, the Border Patrol, and CBP helped lead the investigation. Other major agencies included the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office Narcotics Division, the El Paso Police Department Gang Unit, and the El Paso ISD Police Department. The private firm Leo Technologies also helped.
“Working hand-in-hand with our partners – whether in law enforcement, the private sector, and with foreign law enforcement agencies – is paramount in order to keep people like Pineda from bringing violence and drugs into the United States and our communities,” Brown said.
