6 Mexican Nationals Charged With Kidnapping 9 People, Murdering 6, Including 3 Americans

Six Mexicans were charged with kidnapping nine people and murdering six of them, including three U.S. citizens, authorities said.

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California, the six alleged members of a hostage-taking group based in Tijuana, Mexico are in the custody of Mexican authorities and facing charges there.

Charges Filed Against the Kidnappers From Mexico

The U.S. Attorney's Office said Tuesday a federal grand jury in Los Angeles returned a five-count indictment charging all six suspects with one count of conspiracy to commit hostage-taking resulting in death, one count of conspiracy to commit extortion, and one count of extortion.

Authorities identified the six Mexican nationals as German Garcia Yera Hernandez, 37; Gilberto Omar Avila Lopez, 27; Aylin Estrada Reyes, 24; Joel Eduardo Mascorro Delgado, 22; Victoria Camila Espinoza Ballardo, 22; and Oscar Bautista Valencia, 30.

Three of the defendants, namely Yera Hernandez, Lopez, and Ballardo, face an additional count of hostage-taking resulting in death and extortion.

Six Mexicans Are Members of Cross-Border Kidnapping Gang

The hostage-taking group from Mexico was accused in the U.S. of operating a kidnapping gang for four months last year, NBC News reported.

The group allegedly lured their victims into meetings under false pretenses, then held them at gunpoint, tied them up, and often brutally beat them.

The group would then call the victims' family members in the U.S. and demand money and vehicles as ransom in return for the release of their loved ones, Fox 11 reported.

According to the indictment, if victims did not have family members who could pay the ransom, they were murdered. In some instances, the indictment noted that the group would still kill the victims even if ransoms were paid to "protect the conspiracy."

The U.S. Attorney's Office said other members of the group traveled from Mexico into the U.S. to locations selected by Yera Hernandez to collect the ransom payments made by the victims' family members.

According to the indictment, from January to April 2020, Yera Hernandez led the group that extorted money from victims by taking hostages and holding for ransom U.S. and Mexican nationals with relatives in the United States.

The amount of ransom money asked by the group was not disclosed. But in one scenario, the group demanded $25,000 for the release of a U.S. citizen from Southern California who was allegedly kidnapped on April 11, 2020, when he was visiting a relative in Tijuana, Mexico.

The U.S. Attorney's Office said even after his mother offered $1,000 and her son's car, the group still murdered him. His body was reportedly found in Mexico the next day.

If convicted of all charges, the six Mexican nationals would face a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment or the death penalty. It was still unknown whether they would be brought to the U.S.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Joshua Summers

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