Two Riverside County men were accused of participating in an international ransom ring on July 30.
Miguel “Fredo” Angel Avila of Hemet and Jose “Pablo” Jaime Garcia were two of five men charged in the scheme.
The indictment accuses Avila of telling co-defendant Jose Moreno Gonzalez to kidnap migrants at a gas station in Chandler, Arizona, on March 21, 2023. Avila, Garcia and co-defendant Gabriel “Steven” Becerra then held the migrants in a Burbank house, and called their families for ransom payments, the indictment claims.
On March 22, 2023, the men moved the hostages to a motel room, where one of the four men escaped through a second-story bathroom window, the indictment said. The escapee ran into the It’s Boba Time shop in Los Angeles’ Koreatown.
Avila followed the escapee into the shop, body-slammed him, placed him in a chokehold, and repeatedly punched him, the indictment says. A photo of the assault, recorded from the boba shop’s camera, was included in the indictment.
They moved the migrants to another house, then exchanged one of the victims to their brother in exchange for $11,000 in cash, the indictment says.
They each face nine felony counts: conspiracy to commit hostage taking, hostage taking, conspiracy to commit kidnapping, kidnapping, conspiracy to transport illegal aliens, two counts of transporting illegal aliens for private financial gain, and extortion.
Avila pleaded not guilty, and is held without bond. He will go to trial Oct. 29. Garcia is free on bond.
“These defendants allegedly preyed upon victims who sought to emigrate to our country by demanding ransom from the victims’ families in exchange for their release,” said U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada of the Central District of California.
Read the indictment here.
