Two Honduran illegal aliens living in New Mexico have been charged for conspiring to kidnap other illegals and holding them for ransom.
Darwin Jeovany Palma Pastrana, 30, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, was charged with one count of conspiracy, one count of kidnapping, one count of interstate communication containing a demand or request for ransom, and one count of making a threat by interstate communication, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California said in a press release.
Palma’s co-defendant, Eduar Isrrael Sauceda Nuñez, 25, another Honduran national illegally living in Albuquerque, New Mexico, conspired with others to kidnap and hold for ransom migrants illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, the U.S. Attorney’s Office added (via DOJ):
Once the migrants were in the U.S., they were driven to stash houses in Phoenix, El Paso, Texas, and Albuquerque, New Mexico. Once at these locations, the migrants’ cellphones were seized and were not returned to them. At one stash house in Albuquerque, 57 migrants were located.
Palma and his accomplices lived near the stash houses and kept large sums of cash and firearms available. Sauceda and other co-conspirators drove migrants to various locations, including Los Angeles, to reunite them with their family and friends.
In one specific incident, Palma told Sauceda that one victim, a Guatemalan illegal alien, had to pay $1,500 before being released to his family. Sauceda ordered the victim to contact a family member to meet at a Jack in the Box restaurant parking lot. At the parking lot, Sauceda locked the victim inside the car and demanded a $1,500 ransom payment from the victim’s relative before driving away with the victim inside the car.
Later that day, Palma contacted the victim’s relative and said unless $1,500 was paid, the victim would be returned to Mexico and Palma suggested the victim would be killed there, the U.S. Attorney’s Office added (via DOJ):
Sauceda then returned to the Jack in the Box parking lot, believing the victim’s relative would pay the ransom. Instead, law enforcement was nearby and later pulled over and arrested Sauceda. As he was being pulled over, Sauceda placed approximately $9,290 in cash, as well as receipts memorializing money transfers to individuals outside of the United States, in the center console of his car before he was arrested. On April 2, Palma sent messages via WhatsApp to the victim’s relative, threatening to kill her.
Palma was arrested in New Mexico on Aug. 21. He was arraigned Friday afternoon in United States District Court in Riverside. He pleaded not guilty to the charges against him. He remains in jail without bond and has a court date on Nov. 5.
Palma reportedly used a yellow school bus to transport victims to one of the stash houses. In May, law enforcement saw the bus parked at a house in Albuquerque, where they found 57 illegal aliens.
Sauceda, was charged with one count of conspiracy, one count of kidnapping, one count of one count of interstate communication containing a demand or request for ransom, and one count of transportation of aliens within the United States for private financial gain.
“These defendants allegedly helped to smuggle migrants and then take advantage of them by demanding ransom from the victims’ families to secure their release,” said United States Attorney Martin Estrada. “We will use our powerful tools to hold accountable those who use violence to profit off of vulnerable victims.”