Often set to polka or waltz-style melodies, songs labeled as narcocorrido—or drug ballad—are banned from radio use in several states in Mexico due to the subgenre’s reputation for glorifying cartel activity and drug culture.
About four years before being incarcerated in Lompoc, convicted drug trafficker Omar Briceno-Quijano was the subject of the 2021 ballad titled “El de la Super Duty,” by Alameños De La Sierra.
Lyrics that reference Briceno-Quijano’s “freight” transport operations across Colorado and other states eventually ended up in federal court documents tied to his conviction and 14-year prison sentence for meth distribution and money laundering.
On July 23, Briceno-Quijano escaped from Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) Lompoc II’s minimum security satellite camp, the camp’s acting warden confirmed.
“This was discovered after conducting a total of three counts,” Acting Complex Warden J. Pino explained in a July 24 letter to the U.S. District Court of Colorado.
Pino said that prison staff first reported Briceno-Quijano as “not present” during the camp’s official daily 4 p.m. count. After two additional counts that day, including a bed count, the camp’s operational lieutenant ordered “a search of all internal and appropriate areas,” and Briceno-Quijano was placed on “escape status.”
In a statement from the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), Public Information Officer Celeste Lancaster described Briceno-Quijano as a 35-year-old Hispanic male “walkaway”—approximately 5-foot-7 and 197 pounds—who was “discovered missing” from custody on July 23.
Lancaster encouraged anyone with information about Briceno-Quijano’s whereabouts to call the U.S. Marshals Service’s local line at (805) 346-2728.
She added that the FBI and other law enforcement agencies were notified about Briceno-Quijano’s escape.
Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office Public Information Officer Raquel Zick told the Sun via email that the Sheriff’s Office is “aware of the wanted subject,” but declined to comment on local authorities’ apprehension efforts in collaboration with the U.S. Marshals Service.
The Sun also reached out to the city of Lompoc for comment but did not receive a response before press time.
As of July 28, Briceno-Quijano remained out of custody and on escape status, BOP spokesperson Donald Murphy confirmed via email.
According to the BOP’s website, FCI Lompoc II has a population of about 1,800 inmates, while the minimum security satellite camp’s population is less than 400.
Both FCI Lompoc I—which currently houses about 800 inmates—and FCI Lompoc II are classified as low security correctional institutions.
This article appears in July 30 – August 6, 2026.
