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Two sentenced for holding smuggled immigrants hostage
By Mary Manning

Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2009 | 4:51 p.m.


Two men were sentenced today in federal court after they pleaded guilty to holding seven illegal immigrants in a Las Vegas hotel room against their wills and for ransom.

Victor Manual Morales-Velazquez, 22, was sentenced to three years and a month in prison and Angel Rigoberto Uribe-Ibarra, 48, was sentenced to three years and five months in prison, said U.S. Attorney Daniel G. Bogden of Nevada.

The two men pleaded guilty July 9 to conspiracy to harbor illegal aliens for private financial gain.

Two other men also charged with the crime, Orlando Jimenez, 21, and Felipe de Jesus Flores-Villela, 33, are scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 16 and Dec. 11, respectively.

All of the men -- except Jimenez, who is a U.S. citizen -- are Mexican nationals who entered the United States unlawfully, Bogden said.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents received information April 23 that illegal immigrants from Mexico were being held against their wills in Las Vegas.

Family members of the victims had been contacted by the captors and told they had to pay $2,800 to secure the release of each person, Bogden said.

ICE agents, working with local and federal law enforcement authorities, combed telephone records and found the people they were looking for had a room at the Aruba Hotel, 1215 Las Vegas Blvd. S.

Law enforcement officers knocked and entered the room on April 23, finding 12 people. Agents took all 12 into custody, finding that 11 were in the country illegally and seven had been smuggled into the United States for a fee.

The people who had been brought to Las Vegas had to contact family members or provide contact information to their captors, Bogden said. The people had also been physically assaulted and intimidated in the presence of others. Guns were drawn to keep the captives under control to coerce them and their families to pay ransoms, authorities said.

Agents recovered three pellet firing replica pistols and a knife with a blade that opened automatically.

The case was investigated by ICE, DEA and Metro Police, and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kimberly M. Frayn, Christina M. Brown and Bradley Giles.


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