SAN DIEGO (CN) - A former top official in the Baja California Attorney General's Office was sentenced Monday to eight years in federal prison on RICO charges, involving a double homicide and laundering money for a drug cartel, U.S. prosecutors said.
Jesus Quinonez-Marquez, the former director of international liaison for the Mexican state's attorney general, admitted he used his official position "to further the criminal activities of the criminal enterprise controlled by Fernando Sanchez-Arellano," the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a statement.
"Specifically, Quinonez-Marquez admitted to using his position as a lawyer at the Attorney General's Office to provide information to FSO [Fernando Sanchez-Arellano Organization] members to avoid apprehension and prosecution for a double homicide which occurred in Tijuana, Mexico, on March 25, 2010, and to conspiring to launder $13 million on behalf of the FSO," the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
He was the 39th defendant to be sentenced in the U.S. investigation of the drug cartel. The final defendant, Armando Villareal Heredia, is expected to be tried in 2013, prosecutors said.
Quinonez Marquez, 51, will be deported after he serves his time.
The U.S. Attorney's Office also spelled his name Quinones Marquez.
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