'El Ponchis' Released: Teen Cartel Killer Heads Home To US

'El Ponchis', AKA Edgar Jimenez Lugo, has been released from a juvenile detention center in Mexico and is being taken back to the United States where he was born. The 17-year-old, who admitted to killing four people while being part of a drug cartel, was released in the early hours of Tuesday morning from the Centro de Ejecución de Medidas Cautelares para Adolescentes (CEMPLA), confirmed Morelos government secretary Jorge Vicente Messeguer Guillén.

'El Ponchis' was taken to Mexico City's International Airport where he boarded a plane bound for the United States. It was originally thought that the young assassin was headed for San Diego where his family was waiting for him, however, the plane ended up heading to San Antonio, Texas, where he will be handed over to immigration authorities. According to Messeguer Guillen, El Ponchis will be placed in a support center with the goal of rehabilitating him into society.

'El Ponchis' was freed after three years of imprisonment for crimes including kidnapping and homicide. Although his sentence was in fact set to run until December 2nd, the judge alllowed the youngster to be freed early on good behavior. El Ponchis was arrested when he was 14 years old and confessed to decapitating four men who had been kidnapped by the Pacific Cartel to which the young boy belonged. ndena se cumplía el 2 de diciembre, una juez decidió adelantar su salida por su "buena conducta".