San Diego-born boy tied to beheadings for Drug Cartels

U.S. consular officials are arranging to meet with a San Diego-born 14-year-old accused of carrying out killings and decapitations for a major drug cartel in central Mexico.

Mexican officials approved the meeting after a formal petition from the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City, the juvenile court judge handling the teen’s case said Monday.

Mexican troops arrested Edgar Jimenez Lugo, known as “El Ponchis,” and his two sisters on Thursday on the outskirts of the central Mexican city of Cuernavaca, a tourism destination 40 miles south of Mexico City and the capital of the state of Morelos.

All three have ties to San Diego, according to county birth records. The night of the arrests, the boy was carrying a San Diego County document registering his birthplace as San Diego, but the Mexican government was still waiting Monday for U.S. officials to authenticate his citizenship.

Army officials had made it known a month ago they were searching for “El Ponchis,” after graphic online videos prompted talk of a boy assassin.

An unnamed Mexican Army lieutenant said in written testimony that an anonymous tip led authorities to the airport where the arrests occurred.