Thread: Illegals kidnap, torture, ransom hostages in Phoenix

6 people arrested in kidnapping of 2 men who were held for ransom
Pair were tortured, threatened, police say; 13-year-old girl is among those detained
Cyrus Karimi
The Arizona Republic
Nov. 22, 2007 12:00 AM

Police have arrested six people in the kidnapping last week of two men, who authorities say were tortured by electric shock and threats of losing their limbs and even their lives.

Police made the arrests, which included a 13-year-old girl, on Tuesday after they received a call from a woman who said she was a family member of one of the victims, Phoenix police Sgt. Joel Tranter said.

She called police after a failed attempt to gain the men's release by paying a ransom, police said. The woman and friends had paid $30,000 of an $80,000 ransom, Tranter said.

The two men were kidnapped from a home at 43rd Avenue and Indian School Road area and were taken to a house on the 2000 block of 17th Street, Tranter said. One of the victims spoke to the female relative negotiating his release Monday and was able to partially describe where he was being held.

At 4:30 a.m. Tuesday, tactical officers knocked on the door. The suspects attempted to flee but were caught by authorities. When police entered the house, they found two guns and the men bound and blindfolded in the closet. The men had apparently been held hostage the past five days, police 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.

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.

Some of those arrested also face a police investigation into sexual assaults that may have occurred in the past couple of months at previous drophouses.

Police believe they have all the key suspects in custody, although Tranter said more were probably involved in the kidnapping.

Tranter said this case is more severe than most, but police are seeing an increase in kidnapping and extortion cases with as many as three reported a week.

"This is not an isolated incident," Tranter said.

He said most cases are related to human smuggling or drug trafficking.
http://www.immigrationwatchdog.com/?p=5156
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepubli ... p1122.html

This is the bad side of multiculturalism and diversity, a crime that is extremely common south of the border is coming here after we almost wiped it out in our nation. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kidnap

Kidnapping for money is almost non-existent in the United States of America today, due in great part to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's aggressive stance toward kidnapping. The Bureau made kidnap for ransom a special priority, and continues to do so today. It pursues kidnap cases ferociously; agents who have rescued kidnap victims have been known to describe these rescues as personal high points of their careers.

There are several deterrents to kidnapping in the United States of America. Among these are:

The extreme logistical challenges involved in successfully exchanging the money for the victim without being apprehended or surveiled.
Harsh punishment. Convicted kidnappers can expect to face lengthy prison terms. If a victim is brought across state lines, federal charges can be brought as well.
Good cooperation and information sharing between law enforcement agencies, and tools for spreading information (such as the Amber alert system.
The harsh sentences imposed and the poor risk-to-benefit ratio compared with other crimes have caused kidnap for profit virtually to die out in the United States. One notorious failed example of kidnap for ransom was the Chowchilla bus kidnapping, in which 26 children were abducted with the intention of bringing in a $5 million ransom.[2] Kidnappings for profit that do occur in the United States today are often connected to other criminal activity.

Do we want Latin America's norms to become ours? Not in this case!