Inside ICE: Volume 2, Issue 18

L.A. Federal Judge Sentences Man to 40 Years for Taking Aliens Hostage

LOS ANGELES, Calif. — A man convicted of stealing illegal aliens from a human smuggling ring and holding those aliens for ransom has received one of the longest sentences ever imposed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles related to human smuggling.

Felipe Mendoza-Granados, 32, was sentenced August 22 by United States District Court Judge Audrey B. Collins to 40 years in prison.

Mendoza was one of five Mexican nationals convicted after an ICE investigation on federal hostage taking and weapons charges. The case stemmed from an incident last year where the men abducted several illegal aliens from a human smuggling organization after beating the smugglers and threatening them with a gun and baseball bats.

“This sentence sends a strong message that there is zero tolerance for the brutal tactics used by those in the human smuggling trade,” said Kevin Jeffery, Deputy Special Agent-in-Charge for ICE Investigations in Los Angeles. “ICE is working closely with the United States Attorney's Office to combat this ruthless enterprise and prosecute those involved to the fullest extent of the law.”

According to court documents and evidence, Mendoza and the other men involved in the scheme sent a confederate to Mexico posing as someone who wanted to be smuggled into the United States. After arriving in Los Angeles with other illegal aliens, the man contacted his associates, ostensibly to pay his smuggling fee.

On Feb. 11, 2004, Mendoza and his accomplices confronted the original smugglers in a supermarket parking lot. Brandishing a handgun and baseball bats, the men abducted three aliens, stole the smugglers' van and forced the smugglers to drive to their drop house. At the house, the men beat the remaining alien smugglers and then abducted the other illegal aliens.

The hostages were driven to a new location where they were held for two days while being threatened wwith death or harm unless their relatives paid the balance of their smuggling fees.

The scheme ended February 13, 2004 when the California Highway Patrol stopped the stolen van and discovered two of the kidnappers and one illegal alien.

Following their arrests, several of the defendants admitted that the gang had been involved in as many as 30 similar incidents. The other four defendants in the case are scheduled to be sentenced over the next six weeks.

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Inside ICE is an e-newsletter produced by the ICE Office of Public Affairs to inform the public about the mission, operations and activities of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Please send comments and contributions to Russ Bergeron, Editor.

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