Teen Assassin Set Free In Mexico

A mugshot for 14 year-old Edgar Jimenez Lugo, aka El Ponchis, who was arrested in December 2010.

Remember the story about a teenaged assassin? Back in 2012, the Fronteras Desk reported on a 14-year-old kidnamed Edgar Jimenez Lugo, who faced time in jail for brutal crimes connected to the South Pacific drug cartel.

Well, he has emerged from juvenile detention and is headed back to the United States , according to the Associated Press.

Jimenez Lugo, a U.S. citizen, goes by the nickname “El Ponchis” (“Husky”). The teenager admitted in 2011 to being involved in the death of four people. The victims were beheaded and hung from a bridge in the Mexican city of Cuernavaca .

El Ponchis spent three years in jail. Despite the severity of his crimes, that’s the maximum sentence a juvenile can legally serve in Mexico .

The AP reports the teenager has been released from a juvenile detention center in the state of Morelos. He was then put on a plane bound for the United States . Jimenez Lugo was born in San Diego , but he was raised in Mexico.

He reportedly will not face charges in the United States .

While the boy admitted to the murders, he said the crimes happened after he had been threatened and drugged.

When we first reported on El Ponchis, we cited the Children's Rights Network, which figures there are an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 teenagers linked to drug cartel crimes in Mexico .