Teen 'Hit Boy' jailed for Mexican murders

Updated on: 28 July,2011 07:46 AM IST |
Agencies |

After he was seen on video calmly explaining how he tortured and beheaded at least four people, an American-born teen nicknamed 'El Ponchis' was sentenced to prison yesterday in a Mexican court on kidnapping and murder charges.

The San Diego-born 14-year-old, whose real name is Edgar Jimenez Lugo, received three years in a juvenile prison the maximum allowed under law.

Authorities believe that they were fleeing the country after committing some chilling murders.

In the damning video shown in court, a military interrogator asks the unidentified teen, "How many have you killed?" The curly-haired teen calmly replies, "Four."

Asked how he killed them, he admits, "I slit their throats." The stories of 'El Ponchis'u00a0 had become near-legend in the country after a YouTube video circulated reportedly showing the teen beating a man with a two-by-four while the man was hanging from the ceiling.

When he was captured by authorities, the teen said that he was kidnapped at 11 and had been forced to work for the Cartel of The South Pacific.

At the time he told reporters, "I participated in four executions, but I did it drugged and under threat that if I didn't, they would kill me."

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