Michelle Angelica Pineda, known as “La Chely,” was arrested in El Paso in 2024 and has now been sentenced to 50 years by a Chihuahuan State judge for her role in violent cartel killings and drug trafficking.
On December 27, a judge in Chihuahua handed Pineda a 50-year prison term after her extradition and prosecution in Mexico. She was one of six members of the gang identified in the murder of 23-year-old Mexican national Jorge Rentería Rodríguez, and prosecutors tied her to multiple homicides in Ciudad Juárez.
Federal and local investigators say Pineda was arrested in the United States on February 15, 2024, after FBI El Paso’s Safe Streets Gang Task Force and U.S. Border Patrol located her at a motel. The operation followed an active investigation showing she had entered the U.S. illegally and was allegedly operating a drug trafficking network for the gang known as the Artistas Assassinos.
Authorities described the group’s tactics as extremely violent, and investigators reported evidence linking Pineda to brutal killings. She was accused of atrocities including dismembering victims, removing hearts, and placing those hearts in front of Santa Muerte altars and statues, actions that helped build the case against her in Mexican courts.
Law enforcement agencies working on the case included FBI Safe Streets Gang Task Force members, the El Paso Police Department Gang Unit, the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office Narcotics Division, U.S. Border Patrol, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The probe also involved the El Paso Independent School District Police Department and a private sector partner, all coordinated through the Texas Anti-Gang Center’s multi-agency effort.
FBI El Paso investigators emphasized cross-border cooperation as a key component of the outcome. “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 in Mexico,” said Jarod Brown, FBI El Paso special agent in charge.
Officials reported that when Pineda was taken into custody, officers found a cache of weapons and drugs in the motel room where she was located. The list of seized items included several firearms, machetes, fentanyl pills, powdered fentanyl, heroin, cocaine, Xanax, and methamphetamine, evidence used to tie the operation to transnational trafficking activity and violent criminal behavior.
Pineda’s arrest was carried out by U.S. Customs and Border Protection personnel, and after processing she was escorted to the port of entry to be transferred into the custody of Chihuahua State Police and the State Attorney General of Chihuahua. Mexican authorities then pursued prosecution that culminated in the lengthy prison sentence handed down by the state judge.
