California husband arrested at Mexico soccer match accused of being cartel kingpin, wife says it’s ludicrous

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A California man remains detained in Mexico after being arrested following a soccer match on accusations he’s a cartel kingpin, his wife claims.

Joel Rene Cardenas Carrillo, a 46-year-old US citizen from Visalia, traveled to the Mexican state of Colima in July to visit his father, according to his wife, Veronica Sanchez, who launched a GoFundMe campaign seeking legal help.

What was supposed to be a short family trip has stretched into a months-long saga, with Cardenas still behind bars in Mexico.

Sanchez said her husband was arrested Aug. 12 in Manzanillo along with several other men after attending a soccer match. Mexican authorities allege the group was involved in illegally extracting fuel from a pipeline, according to Mexican media reports.

But Sanchez insists her husband had nothing to do with the alleged crime.

“He’s being accused of — he’s the boss, the boss of the entire Mexican City cartel,” Sanchez told YourCentralValley.

“He’s a US citizen and didn’t commit the crime.”

News reports from Mexico say prosecutors have accused Cardenas and the other men of stealing hydrocarbons from a Pemex pipeline in the Tapeixtles area of Manzanillo.

His family, meanwhile, maintains that he was detained after leaving the soccer match and they are seeking evidence that could establish where he was at the time of the alleged offense.

Cardenas has lived in the US for more than two decades, according to reports. His wife and two children are also American citizens and remain in California while he faces legal proceedings in Mexico.

Sanchez said she traveled to Mexico herself in an effort to find answers and get her husband home, claiming she struggled to obtain information or secure legal representation.

“I was trying to prove, you know, he’s a citizen. They hurt him. They were torturing him,” she told YourCentralValley.

The family has now turned to crowdfunding to pay for a lawyer and other legal expenses.

The GoFundMe campaign says Sanchez contacted Mexican authorities, lawyers and consular officials, but she has struggled to get answers about her husband’s detention.

“I really don’t know why. There’s no reason. There’s no — they don’t even have proof. There’s no proof,” Sanchez told YourCentralValley.

Mexican media reports said Cardenas’ next court hearing is scheduled for Oct. 20.

For Sanchez and her family, the uncertainty has taken an emotional and financial toll.

“We miss him, and we want him to come home,” she said.

The Post has reached out to the US Department of State and Mexican authorities for comment.

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