Gerardo Mérida Sánchez, former Sinaloa public security secretary, appeared Friday in a federal court in New York and pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy to import narcotics and weapons possession.
Mérida Sánchez was detained on May 11 after crossing the Nogales port of entry into Arizona. US authorities transferred him to New York, where the Southern District of New York prosecutor accuses him of tipping off Los Chapitos at least ten times about operations and of receiving monthly cash bribes exceeding 100 thousand dollars between 2023 and 2024.
The retired Mexican Army general held the post from September 2023 to December 2024 under Governor Rubén Rocha Moya. He appeared briefly Wednesday before Judge Eric J. Markovich in Tucson and Friday before Judge Sarah Netburn in New York, where he was booked into the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.
He is one of ten current and former Sinaloa officials named by the US Department of Justice for alleged ties to the Sinaloa Cartel. Mérida had filed for an amparo in Morelia days before his arrest to block extradition.
