Four men from Southern California have been charged with federal crimes alleging that they kidnapped migrants from Arizona, transported them to California and then held them for ransom.
The men, Miguel Angel Avila, 22, of Hemet; Omar Avila Salmeron, 41, of Los Angeles; Jose Jaime Garcia, 20, of San Jacinto; and Jose Alfredo Moreno Gonzalez, 21, of Oak Hills, were arraigned on federal charges and have all pleaded not guilty.
A fifth man, Gabriel Michel Becerra, 22, of Palmdale, is currently a fugitive of law, according to the United States Department of Justice.
All five men were federally indicted on counts related to conspiracy, hostage-taking, kidnapping, and transporting undocumented immigrants.
Avila, Salmeron, Garcia and Becerra face additional charges for conspiracy and attempted interference of commerce, a violation of the federal law known as the Hobbs Act.
According to the July 30 indictment, on March 21, 2023, Avila instructed Moreno to drive to a gas station in Chandler, Arizona, where he allegedly kidnapped four migrants and drove them to a restaurant in Burbank.
Avila, Garcia and Becerra then held the four migrants hostage in a house and contacted their loved ones with the victims’ phones and demanded ransom money in exchange for their safe release.
Avila allegedly used one of the victim’s cellphones to demand ransom payments be made to one account in Mexico and another in the U.S. in exchange for that victim’s release, the DOJ said.
The following day, Avila, Garcia and Becerra allegedly moved the victims to a motel room where one of them managed to escape through a second-story bathroom window.
Avila and an unnamed co-conspirator allegedly chased the victim to a store in Koreatown where Avila “body-slammed the victim, placed him in a chokehold, and punched him repeatedly in the face in an attempt to re-kidnap him.”
That incident was caught on security camera and the DOJ shared a screenshot of the video on Monday.
Avila, Garcia and Becerra purportedly restrained two of the remaining hostages by tying their hands and then transported them to another house where they held them in a locked room and threatened them with violence if they tried to escape.
The next day, those three allegedly drove one one of their hostages to a gas station where they met the victim’s brother and took $11,000 in cash in exchange for his release.
The four men who were charged as part of this case have all pleaded not guilty. Avila and Salmeron are being held without bond; Garcia and Moreno are currently out on bond, the DOJ said.
Salmeron, Garcia and Moreno are expected to face trial on Oct. 1; Avila will face his own trial on Oct. 29.
Anyone with information about Becerra’s location is urged to contact local law enforcement.
United States Attorney Martin Estrada said the defendants “preyed upon victims who sought to emigrate to our country.” He vowed that the DOJ was committed to ensuring that anyone who uses “violence to terrorize others” will face severe consequences.
The case remains under investigation by the United States Customs and Border Protection, Homeland Security Investigations, and the Los Angeles Police Department.
If convicted of all charges, each defendant could face a possible sentence of life in federal prison.
