The Jalisco Attorney General’s office (FGE) has revealed that two former policemen are among the six suspects put behind bars as prime suspects in a series of high profile crimes of violence committed earlier this year in the lakeside area.
As reported in this newspaper last month, Mauricio Gomez Reyes, 32, Victor Hugo Marquez Cortes, 23, Carlos Gerardo Rivera Ortega, 29, and Said Rodriguez Piña, 38 were busted on April 7 at a hotel in Cancun, Quintana Roo, following leads provided by the FGE. They were transferred to Jalisco under heavy police guard the following day.
Amezquita Ascencio has been identified as a former Jocotepec policeman with place of residence in Chapala. Rivera Ortega was employed as a line officer at the Chapala police department in July of 2010. He voluntarily resigned on January 28 of this year.
All of the suspects have since been imprisoned to face charges related to the case of a Jocotepec businessman who was kidnapped on February 4 at the tire shop he operated on the Chapala-Ajijic bypass (libramiento). The victim managed to escape his abductors and run for freedom.
Officials at the Chapala Ministerio Publico district attorney’s office tell the Reporter that FGE investigators have likewise tied the suspects to the February 15 murder of an Ajijic taco stand vendor and the March 13 kidnapping and eventual killing of two Ajijic teachers. Other members of the local criminal gang allegedly affiliated with the Milenio cartel reportedly remain at large.