El Paso, TX. — On December 27, Michelle Angelica Pineda, also known as “La Chely,” was sentenced to 50 years in a Mexican prison by a Chihuahuan State judge for her role in the murder of 23-year-old Mexican national Jorge Rentería Rodríguez.
Pineda, a Mexican national, was sentenced alongside five of her “Artistas Assessino” sicarios, all convicted in connection with the homicide. Authorities said Pineda was a senior operative for the violent criminal organization operating out of Ciudad Juárez.
Pineda was arrested on February 15, 2024, at a local motel by agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation El Paso Field Office and U.S. Border Patrol as part of an operation led by the FBI Safe Streets Gang Task Force. She was wanted by the Government of Mexico for her involvement in at least five homicides and was suspected in multiple additional killings in Ciudad Juárez.
“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,” said Jarod Brown, Special Agent in Charge of FBI El Paso. “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.”
Investigators determined Pineda had entered the United States illegally and was operating a drug trafficking ring on behalf of the Artistas Assessino gang. Authorities described her as exceptionally brutal, citing acts including dismemberment and ritualistic killings linked to Santa Muerte altars.
During the arrest, agents from the FBI, U.S. Border Patrol BORTAC, the El Paso Police Department Gang Unit, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection recovered firearms, machetes, fentanyl pills, powdered fentanyl, heroin, cocaine, Xanax, and methamphetamine from Pineda’s hotel room.
Following her arrest, Pineda was transferred through a port of entry into the custody of the Chihuahua State Police and the State Attorney General of Chihuahua (Fiscalía), where she was prosecuted and ultimately sentenced.
The investigation was conducted through a multi-agency collaboration involving the FBI Safe Streets Task Force at the Texas Anti-Gang Center, the El Paso Police Department, the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office Narcotics Division, the El Paso Independent School District Police Department, U.S. Border Patrol, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and private-sector partner Leo Technologies.
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