EL PASO, Texas ( KTSM ) — A woman who was wanted by the Mexican government for her alleged involvement in five homicides and is suspected in multiple other murders in Ciudad Juarez was arrested in El Paso after a multi-agency investigation, the FBI El Paso Office announced in a news release.
Michelle Angelica Pineda, aka “La Chely,” was arrested on Thursday, Feb. 15, the FBI said.
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Local law enforcement, including the FBI Safe Streets Gang Task Force, learned that Pineda had entered into the United States illegally and was allegedly operating a drug trafficking ring for the “Artistas Asesinos” gang from Mexico.
“Pineda was known for her extreme brutality such as dismembering bodies, removing hearts, and placing the hearts in front of ‘Santa Muerte’ altars and statutes,” the FBI said in its news release.
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In the early morning hours on Thursday, FBI El Paso agents, U.S. Border Patrol BORTAC or special tactical operators, El Paso Police Department Gang officers, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers discovered several firearms, machetes, fentanyl pills, powdered fentanyl, heroin, cocaine, Xanax, and methamphetamine in the El Paso motel room she was found in, according to the news release.