2 kidnapped by human smugglers were tortured, threatened
Cyrus Karimi
The Arizona Republic
Nov. 21, 2007 03:54 PM

Two men who were kidnapped by human smugglers last Thursday night were tortured with electric shocks and threatened with loss of limb and death, authorities said Wednesday.

Police arrested six suspects, including a 13-year-old girl, early Tuesday morning after receiving a call from a woman who said she was a family member of one of the victims, Phoenix police Sgt. Joel Tranter said.

The woman and friends attempted to negotiate the release of the men through "probably a three-way" conversation, including paying $30,000 of an $80,000 ransom, Tranter said.

Police arrested Ricardo Medina-Garcia, 23; Abraham Flores-Ochoa, 21; Marco Corrales, 31; Jesus Arredondo, 20; Santos Espinal, 20; and the 13-year-old and booked them on suspicion of kidnapping and theft by extortion.

Medina-Garcia, Flores-Ochoa, Arredondo and Espinal also face charges of misconduct involving weapons, armed robbery, and aggravated assault from the kidnapping and electric shocking, Tranter said.

According to information from Immigration Customs Enforcement, Arredondo had been arrested and deported three times and Medina-Garcia had been arrested and deported twice before the kidnapping, Tranter said.

Police are investigating sexual assaults that may have occurred in the past couple months by several of the suspects at previous drop houses.

Police believe they have all the key suspects in custody, but there are probably more people involved in the kidnapping, Tranter said.

The men were kidnapped from near 43rd Avenue and Indian School Road and taken to a house on the 2000 block of Indian School, Tranter said.

The family member called police early Tuesday morning and told them a relative and a family friend were kidnapped Thursday night.

One of the victims described the house to her and said it was near 17th Avenue and Palm Lane.

At 4:30 a.m., tactical officers knocked on the door. Five suspects fled out the back, jumping neighboring fences in an attempt to escape.

Police arrested six suspects, including two who were bitten by police dogs after resisting arrest.

Police then entered the house and found two guns and the men bound and blindfolded in the closet.

Tranter said one of the friends of the woman who called police, Jose Luis Barrata-Ramirez, has been apprehended and deported 20 times in the past and is now in the custody of ICE. Barrata-Ramirez was neither a suspect nor a victim in the case.
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/ ... g1121.html