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Feds Indict Three in Sinaloa Cartel Plot That Used Teen Hitmen in Chula Vista Attacks

Prosecutors link the 2024 shootings to a 2023 cartel drug theft that pushed the violence into San Diego.

Overview

  • An indictment unsealed Thursday charges Poly Antunez, Antonio Quinones and Jovanny Enriquez with conspiracy to commit murder, murder for hire and related racketeering offenses.
  • FBI agents arrested Quinones and Enriquez this week, while Antunez was already in federal custody, and all three made initial appearances in San Diego federal court.
  • Federal filings describe the trio as go-betweens connecting the Sinaloa Cartel, the Mexican Mafia and teenage gunmen, coordinating guns, a vehicle, an Airbnb and payments, with messages referencing a payout up to $150,000.
  • Prosecutors say the teens struck on March 26–27, 2024, wounding the target outside a Chili’s and later triggering an apartment shootout that wounded a friend and left accomplice Ricardo Sanchez dead after return fire.
  • The shooters, Andrew Nunez and Johncarlo Quintero, pleaded guilty in December to federal charges and await sentencing next month, as prosecutors allege they were recruited at 15 based on a belief they could avoid adult prosecution under state law.