(NewsNation) — Three California men were arrested last Friday on charges that they kidnapped a teen and held him for ransom, the Department of Justice announced.
Fidel Jesús Patino Jaimes, 22, Jair Tomás Ramos Domínguez, 26, and Ezequiel Felix López, 27, who all told law enforcement they are from Santa Maria, now face a kidnapping charge that could land them with a maximum sentence of life in prison.
On Sept. 18, the three defendants allegedly caused a car crash, during which a 17-year-old boy ran into their Jeep Grand Cherokee. When the boy exited his vehicle, Domínguez, Jaimes and López grabbed him and forced the teen into their vehicle.
That afternoon, the victim’s mother received a phone call from a Mexican number demanding the delivery of $500,000 to an “unspecific location” in Nogales to get the victim back, according to the DOJ.
A different number was used to send a WhatsApp video to the teen’s mother, showing him in the back seat of the Jeep and reading from a script, saying the abduction was his father’s fault and that “you know what you stole.”
These phone calls continued, and the speaker even threatened to cut off the victim’s body parts if the mom didn’t pay. Eventually, the ransom demand was reduced to $100,000.
Law enforcement, after identifying the Jeep in a Facebook Marketplace posting and reviewing Ring door camera footage, were able to track the defendants down to a Santa Maria motel.
When they got there, authorities found the three defendants and the victim. The 17-year-old was lying on the floor in a corner of the room.
“Few things can be as terrorizing to a parent as having your child kidnapped and held for ransom under threat of physical harm,” United States Attorney Martin Estrada said in a statement. “Together with the FBI and our local law enforcement partners, we have acted swiftly to rescue the victim and bring the abductors to justice.”
The FBI and the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department are investigating, according to the Justice Department.