14-Year-Old American Boy = Mexican Drug Cartel Hit Man?
Mexican army soldiers escort a 14-year-old suspected of working as a killer for a drug cartel in the city of Cuernavaca, Mexico, Friday Dec. 3, 2010. (AP Photo/Antonio Sierra)
A 14-year-old teen from San Diego was arrested in Cuernavaca, Mexico, accused of, "carrying out gruesome murders for Mexican drug cartels," reports ABC Local.
Mexican soldiers took the boy -- Edgar Jimenez, a U.S. citizen -- into custody on Thursday claiming he had been working as a drug cartel hit man and was the leader of a group of, "young killers, ages 12 to 23, and was paid $3,000 per hit." Reportedly, the teen said he started working for the cartels at age 11.
The teen confessed to reporters, "to chopping off the heads of his victims, saying 'I participated in four executions. Cartel leaders made me smoke marijuana before the kills. I had to cut the throats because they would kill me if I didn't do it.'"
Jimenez, nicknamed "El Ponchis," was arrested while attempting to board a plane to Tijuana with his two sisters. Authorities believe they were planning to flee Mexico and cross the border into San Diego to hide out with his stepmother.