HERMOSILLO, Mexico\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Boxer Julio C\u00e9sar Ch\u00e1vez Jr. was released Sunday from a prison in northern Mexico where he was sent last week after being deported from the U.S.<\/p>\n
The boxer, son of Mexican boxing great Julio C\u00e9sar Ch\u00e1vez, is awaiting trial on accusations of involvement with cartels and illegally trafficking arms into Mexico.<\/p>\n
Ch\u00e1vez was released after a judge in the northern Mexican city of Hermosillo said that he wouldn\u2019t have to remain in custody while awaiting trial, but that he was prohibited from leaving Mexico, a federal agent told the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly. The judge set a three-month period for further investigation.<\/p>\n
Ch\u00e1vez\u2019s lawyer, Rub\u00e9n Fernando Ben\u00edtez Alvarez, described the claims against his client as \u201cspeculation\u201d and \u201curban legends\u201d after a court hearing Saturday.<\/p>\n
If convicted, Ch\u00e1vez \u2014 who took part in the hearing virtually from a detention facility \u2014 could face a prison sentence of four to eight years, Alvarez said.<\/p>\n
Ch\u00e1vez, 39, who had been living in the United States for several years, was arrested in early July by federal agents outside his Los Angeles home, accused of overstaying his visa and providing inaccurate details on an application to obtain a green card. The arrest came just days after a fight he had with American boxer Jake Paul in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n
Since 2019, Mexican prosecutors have been investigating the boxer after a
complaint filed by U.S. authorities against the Sinaloa cartel for organized crime, human trafficking, arms trafficking and drug trafficking.<\/p>\n
The case led to investigations against 13 people, among them Ovidio Guzm\u00e1n L\u00f3pez \u2014 the son of convicted drug lord Joaqu\u00edn \u201cEl Chapo\u201d Guzm\u00e1n \u2014 along with some accused collaborators, hit men and accomplices of the criminal organization. Guzm\u00e1n L\u00f3pez was arrested in January 2023 and extradited to the U.S. eight months later.<\/p>\n
After the inquiry, the federal attorney general\u2019s office issued several arrest warrants, including one for Ch\u00e1vez.<\/p>\n
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said that Ch\u00e1vez was wanted since 2023 in Mexico but that he wasn\u2019t detained because he spent most of the time in
the U.S. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe hope is that he will be deported and serve the sentence in Mexico,\u201d Sheinbaum said in July.<\/p>\n
The boxer was deported by the U.S. on Tuesday and handed over to agents of the federal attorney general\u2019s office in Sonora state, who transferred him to the Federal Social Reintegration Center in Hermosillo.<\/p>\n
The high-profile case comes as the Trump administration is pressuring Mexico to crack down on organized crime, canceling visas of notable Mexican artists and celebrities and ramping up deportations.<\/p>\n
Ch\u00e1vez has struggled with drug addiction throughout his career and has been arrested multiple times. In 2012, he was found guilty of driving under the influence in Los Angeles and was sentenced to 13 days in jail.<\/p>\n
He was arrested last year on suspicion of weapons possession. Police reported that Ch\u00e1vez had two rifles. He was released shortly afterward upon posting $50,000 bail, on the condition that he attend a facility to receive treatment for his addiction.<\/p>\n
T\u00e9llez writes for the Associated Press. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HERMOSILLO, Mexico\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Boxer Julio C\u00e9sar Ch\u00e1vez Jr. was released Sunday from a prison in northern Mexico where he was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":94599,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[55343,703,49,48,55339,13455,55337,55341,55342,55345,31765,10160,1072,3279,55340,55344,82,32320,55338],"class_list":["post-94598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-arm-trafficking","tag-boxing","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cartel-tie","tag-case","tag-chavez","tag-federal-attorney-general","tag-further-investigation","tag-hermosillo","tag-lawyer","tag-los-angeles-times","tag-mexico","tag-office","tag-organized-crime","tag-ovidio-guzman-lopez","tag-sports","tag-trial","tag-u-s-authority"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94598"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94598\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}