Douglas man facing federal charges

Published/Last Modified on Thursday, May 23, 2013 4:57 PM MDT
Trisha Maldonado
Douglas Dispatch

Two Guatemalan women were held against their will on 34th Street and Washington in a travel trailer. Officers located and rescued the women on May 19.
A Douglas man was arrested May 20 for allegedly holding two Guatemalan women hostage.

According to federal court documents, at approximately 4 p.m. on May 19, Cochise County Sheriff’s Officers were advised by Douglas Police Department of a report of two female undocumented aliens reportedly being held against their will somewhere on Washington Avenue in Bay Acres.

CCSO, DPD and U.S. Border Patrol Agents arrived in the area of North Washington Ave. and East 34th Street in an attempt to locate the residence.

The complainant states that DPD officers observed a female stick her hand out of a travel trailer door, then hastily shut the door.

The officer then knocked on the door, the door opened and two females stood inside crying and apparently seemed scared.

Court documents state that the two females observed through a window, the two men holding them against their will, leave in a white taxi cab.

DPD officers located the vehicle in the area of East 18th Street and North Pan American Avenue. The taxi driver told DPD officers that he had dropped off two Hispanic males, one bald headed man carrying a small dog, and the other with dark hair and a lot of tattoos at the Frontera Bar located on 18th Street and A Avenue.

The men were identified as Alejandro Beltran and Aaron Mora Jaramillo, a Mexican citizen present in the U.S. illegally.

One of the victims stated “Alex” the person with the tattoos, had made them contact their family and demanded $10,000.

Both women stated they were physically assaulted a number of time for approximately nine days, included being hit in the face, being punched in the stomach, hair being pulled and pushed and thrown around the travel trailer.

During an interview with Mora-Jaramillo he stated he had no knowledge of the two females in the trailer.

Beltran appeared in federal court on May 20, where he was charged in a preliminary federal complaint with harboring aliens for the purpose of private financial gain, according to a press release from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE).

The investigation is ongoing and the defendant may face additional charges. The case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona.

Stated in an affidavit for detention of material witnesses the Department of Homeland Security has requested that Mora-Jaramillo and the two females are currently being detained as witnesses for further proceedings in this case.

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