http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/hourlyupdate/111225.php

By Lourdes Medrano
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 01.13.2006

A Tucson couple has been indicted on charges of holding hostage for ransom two young illegal border-crossers they are accused of smuggling as part of a larger group.

A grand jury Wednesday handed down an indictment against Sergio Mendez-Gomez and Irma Yolanda Morfin-Mendez. They each face seven counts of charges related to conspiracy to commit hostage taking and harboring and transporting illegal entrants for profit.

Dan Knauss , chief assistant U.S. attorney, said the children and their mother in early December were smuggled in a group of more than 20 illegal border-crossers. The family was separated because the 6-year-old girl and her 9-year-old brother were smuggled through a port-of-entry, and their mother walked across the desert with the others, Knauss said.

On Dec. 10, members of the group were left in a Tucson motel without the children, according to court documents. Nearly a week later, Knauss said, the group told U.S. Border Patrol agents who arrived at the motel that the children were being held hostage for $4,000.

The girl was returned to her mother after a $2,000 payment, Knauss said. "We don't know what happened to the little boy."

The whereabouts of mother and daughter also are unknown, he added. Mendez-Gomez and Morfin-Mendez are expected to be arraigned in U.S. District Court next week.