Man convicted in Tucson stash-house case

Brian J. Pedersen Arizona Daily Star | Posted: Friday, April 16, 2010 1:12 pm

A Mexican national has been convicted of 10 federal charges in connection with a illegal immigrant stash house found last year on Tucson’s south side.

Paulino Rios-Ledezma, 41, was found guilty Thursday in U.S. District Court of three counts of possession of a firearm during a crime of violence, two counts of hostage taking, two counts of harboring illegal aliens, one count of conspiracy to commit hostage taking, one count of conspiracy to harbor and transport illegal aliens and one count of illegal alien in possession of a firearm, court records show.

Rios-Ledezma was one of five men arrested by Tucson police on March 31, 2009 after someone called 911 to say someone had been kidnapped and was being held at a home in the 800 block of West Valencia Road, court records show.

When police arrived they found 36 people inside the home, all of them later identified as Mexican citizens who were in the U.S. illegally, according to court records.

Officers found an AK-47 assault rifle and a 9 mm handgun inside the home, and witnesses said Rios-Ledezma and four other men took turns pointing them at the hostages, court records show.

Two of Rios-Ledezma’s co-defendants pleaded guilty in September to hostage taking and weapons charges and were sentenced to 14 and 12 years, respectively. A third defendant is scheduled to be sentenced April 26 and a fourth was committed to a psychiatric facility last fall.


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