A top lieutenant in Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman Loera’s Sinaloa drug cartel doubled-down on dramatic torture allegations in a memo this week that sought a prison sentence of no more than 10 years — the minimum required by law.
However, Jesus Raul Beltran Leon may also find himself fighting new allegations at his Aug. 5 sentencing hearing, including claims that he offered to pay thousands to have a witness severely beaten.
Beltran Leon pleaded guilty at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse last April, scuttling a trial that would have followed Guzman’s conviction earlier this year in Brooklyn.
Just last week, a federal judge there sentenced Guzman to life in prison. The notorious drug kingpin is now in the “Supermax” facility in Florence, Colorado, records show.
Prosecutors say Beltran Leon once worked with Guzman’s sons, Alfredo and Ivan Guzman, to smuggle massive shipments of drugs into the United States. He is related to “El Chapo” by marriage. And he once allegedly bragged he was “one of the first people” to see Guzman after Guzman escaped a Mexican prison in 2001.
When he pleaded guilty in Chicago, Beltran Leon admitted his role in the sale of 46 kilograms of cocaine sold in Los Angeles between June 8 and June 10 in 2013. He faces up to life in prison and a minimum of 10 years behind bars.
For years, Beltran Leon has alleged that U.S. agents were complicit in torture he endured at the hands of Mexican marines after his capture in 2014. A memo filed by his lawyers Monday again alleges he was brutally beaten and sexually assaulted. He also said the marines covered his face with plastic bags and punched him in the stomach to beat the air out of him.
The Mexican marines allegedly threatened to rape his wife and kill his mother and even asked him if he thought his infant daughter could “withstand a plastic bag?”
U.S. District Judge Ruben Castillo has said Beltran Leon “presents a disturbing picture of law enforcement in Mexico,” adding that he was “deeply disturbed by the accusation that American law enforcement agents may be condoning or turning a blind eye to these tactics.” However, in a written ruling last year, he declined to dismiss the case against Beltran Leon.
Meanwhile, records show Beltran Leon’s lawyers have complained that prosecutors alleged to them that Beltran Leon committed a murder in Mexico without saying when it occurred.
Additionally, his lawyers say they expect prosecutors to call a witness at Beltran Leon’s sentencing hearing who has alleged that Beltran Leon offered money to have another witness beaten. Beltran Leon’s lawyers insist Beltran Leon was merely recorded repeating a rumor.
In a transcript of that recording, Beltran Leon allegedly says he’d heard the beating was worth $25,000. The transcript also mentions the Four Corner Hustlers street gang.
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