A Honduran man living illegally in New Mexico has been federally indicted for allegedly conspiring to kidnap an illegal Guatemalan immigrant and demanding a ransom payment from the man’s SoCal family as part of a multi-state operation.
According to the United States Department of Justice, Darwin Jeovany Palma Pastrana conspired with others to kidnap and hold for ransom migrants illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.
Once they were in the U.S., the migrants were driven to stash houses in Phoenix, El Paso, Texas and Albuquerque, New Mexico; upon arriving, the migrants’ cell phones were seized and not returned to them.
Other times, Palma and his co-conspirators, including another illegal Honduran immigrant named Eduar Isrrael Sauceda Nuñez, would drive migrants to various locations – including Los Angeles – to reunite them with family and friends.
In one specific incident this year, Palma told Sauceda that a Guatemalan man who illegally entered the U.S. from Mexico had to have his family pay them $1,500 to secure his release.
On April 1, Sauceda ordered the victim to contact a family member to meet at a Jack in the Box parking lot in Norwalk to exchange the money, but according to federal officials, the meeting did not go smoothly.
“At this parking lot meeting, 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 his car,” the Justice Department said. “Later that day, Palma contacted the victim’s relative and said that unless $1,500 was paid, the victim would be returned to Mexico [while suggesting] the victim would be killed there.”
Afterwards, Sauceda returned to the Jack in the Box parking lot expecting the family to pay the ransom; however, law enforcement officials were standing by and arrested him.
“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,” a DOJ release stated, adding that the following day, Palma messaged the victim’s relative on WhatsApp and threatened to kill her.
Palma, 30, and Sauceda resided in Albuquerque near stash houses, including one where 57 migrants were found by federal officials on May 21.
Palma was known to drive a school bus “with a non-resident permit issued to him” to and from the stash house; this bus was parked at the house on May 21 when authorities located the undocumented migrants being detained there.
Officials noted that the day before, when law enforcement were in the area investigating a kidnapping complaint, one co-conspirator drove up to the house and appeared to point at officers while another fired multiple gunshots in the vicinity of the home.
Palma was charged one count of conspiracy, 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.
He was arrested on Aug. 21 in New Mexico and arraigned on Friday at the U.S. District Court in Riverside, where he pleaded not guilty to all charges against him. His next court date is scheduled for Nov. 5 and he is being held without bond.
Sauceda – who, according to the DOJ, is a fugitive – faces the same charges as Palma except for making a threat by interstate communication; he is charged with one count of transportation of aliens within the United States for private financial gain.
If convicted, both men would face a statutory maximum sentence of life in federal prison.
“Everyone in this country who is a victim of a serious crime is protected by U.S. law and this is no exception,” said Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office Akil Davis. “The exploitation of vulnerable individuals and their families will be fully investigated by the FBI and its local law enforcement partners.”
Davis said that anyone with information on the whereabouts of Eduar Isrrael Sauceda Nuñez should contact the FBI or the nearest U.S. Embassy or Consulate.