Former judge's trial delayed, Venezuelan guest awaits sentence

LAS CRUCES — A Venezuelan man who pleaded guilty to a weapons charge last year in a criminal case that swept up a local judge and his wife will be sentenced in the coming weeks — but he is rejecting allegations in a presentencing report connecting him with the Tren de Aragua gang.

Cristhian Ortega Lopez, 23, agreed last fall to plead guilty to possessing a firearm and ammunition in violation of federal immigration law and conspiracy to tamper with evidence.

He was arrested in February when federal agents executed a search warrant at a residence where he and two roommates were staying in a guest house owned by former Doña Ana County Magistrate Judge Joel Cano and his spouse, Nancy Cano. Joel Cano resigned from the bench following the raid without admitting wrongdoing and said the gang-related insinuations about his guests had been sensationalized.

Ortega Lopez has also denied connections to the gang, and the allegation was not an element of the crimes in which he was accused. It also is not mentioned in the plea agreement or the facts to which he admitted.

He was charged with being an illegal alien in possession of firearms based on social media posts showing him visiting a local shooting range. Ortega Lopez had a pending immigration case related to his 2023 arrest on charges of entering the U.S. unlawfully near Eagle Pass, Texas, and had been released from custody while the matter was in process.

He pleaded guilty to that charge as well as to conspiring to delete a Facebook account after his arrest that prosecutors said contained potentially incriminating evidence. 

In court filings, prosecutors suggested the defendant’s tattoos and sports apparel, content found on his mobile phone along with emojis and gestures displayed in social media posts, all pointed to Tren de Aragua affiliation.

At the time of Ortega Lopez’s arrest, similar details were cited in detaining and removing hundreds of Venezuelan migrants as suspected gang members to the El Salvadoran prison known as CECOT early in 2025, although some experts have disputed that such evidence proves membership in Tren de Aragua or any gang in particular.

Following their arrests, one of Ortega Lopez’s roommates voluntarily returned to Venezuela and another was rendered to federal custody outside New Mexico, according to neighbors who were acquainted with the three men. 

The charges to which Ortega Lopez pleaded carry maximum penalties of 15 and 20 years, respectively; $250,000 in fines per count; and up to three years of supervised release. He also faces removal from the United States.

A sentencing hearing set for January was postponed and is likely to take place in February. Although the suggestion of gang affiliation has not been adjudicated in court, prosecutors could raise it as part of its sentencing recommendation to the judge. 

Ortega Lopez filed a court motion objecting to a presentence investigation report — which has not itself been made public — over purported mentions of the gang-related allegations. The motion states simply: “Mr. Ortega Lopez objects to any connection or affiliation with Tren de Aragua.”

His attorney, Shaharazad Booth, declined to comment when contacted by the Journal. A spokesperson for the New Mexico U.S. Attorney’s Office said, “The prosecution team will be responding to the motion at some point, which will then be addressed at or before sentencing.”

Meanwhile, trials for Joel and Nancy Cano have been delayed until spring.

The Canos admitted to allowing the three Venezuelans to stay in a detached studio apartment on their property, befriending them after they did handyman work for them while preparing for their court cases.

After Ortega Lopez’s arrest, however, a federal grand jury indicted Nancy Cano for allegedly conspiring to tamper with evidence, associated with the deletion of Ortega Lopez’s Facebook account.

Joel Cano, 67, was charged with tampering with evidence and conspiracy after allegedly telling officers he had destroyed a mobile phone of interest to the investigation.

The couple pleaded not guilty to the charges and were released from custody ahead of a jury trial.

Nancy Cano, 68, stated in a motion seeking postponement that her attorney died suddenly on Oct. 30 and her new counsel needed additional time to review evidence running to 2,000 pages of material and more than 2 terabytes of data, according to her motion. Joel Cano has his own counsel but the motion indicates they are pursuing a shared defense strategy.

The postponement was unopposed by prosecutors and granted by U.S. District Judge Margaret Strickland. As a result, the Canos' case might be presented to a jury in April.

Algernon D'Ammassa is the Journal's southern New Mexico correspondent. He can be reached at adammassa@abqjournal.com.