A California teenager was rescued 4 days after he was kidnapped by a gaggle that demanded a $500,000 ransom from his household, in line with a federal prison grievance.
Officers say the 17-year-old was kidnapped on September 18 after crashing his kidnappers’ automotive right into a parking zone they’d organized. When the teenager received out of his automotive, two males grabbed him and compelled him right into a silver Jeep Grand Cherokee.
The teenager’s mom acquired a cellphone name that afternoon demanding a $500,000 ransom to be extradited to Nogales, Mexico in trade for her son’s launch, in line with a grievance filed within the U.S. District Courtroom for the Central District of California. The abductors additionally despatched a video of her son studying from a script, saying the kidnapping was his father’s fault on account of an incident in Yonkers, New York, the place his father allegedly stole one thing.
The grievance didn’t embrace any details about the daddy’s alleged position within the kidnapping.
Officers mentioned the mom acquired calls from totally different numbers over the subsequent few days, and the abductors allegedly demanded ransom and threatened to chop off the sufferer’s physique elements if it was not paid. In a single cellphone name, a spokesman lowered the ransom to $100,000.
Investigators tracked the suspects to a lodge in Santa Maria by reviewing a Fb publish itemizing the silver Jeep they drove on the market, in addition to a Ring digital camera video of the kidnapping, the doc says.
Investigators with a search warrant searched a lodge room Friday morning and located the sufferer and three suspects, officers mentioned. In line with the grievance, the 17-year-old was on the bottom within the nook.
Within the room was a loaded 9 mm pistol and a penknife.
Fidel Jesus Patino James, 22 years previous; Jair Tomas Ramos Dominguez, 26; He and Ezequiel Felix Lopez, 27, have been arrested and charged with kidnapping, the grievance says. They appeared in courtroom on Monday the place they have been ordered held with out bail.
A preliminary listening to is scheduled for October 10.
“Few issues could be as terrifying to a dad or mum as having your youngster kidnapped and held for ransom underneath the specter of bodily hurt,” U.S. Lawyer Martin Estrada mentioned in a press release. “In cooperation with the FBI and our native legislation enforcement companions, we moved rapidly to rescue the sufferer and convey the abductors to justice,” he added.
The US Lawyer’s Workplace mentioned the household by no means paid the ransom.
This text was initially printed on NBCNews.com