ABC NEWS
Alleged Mexican Drug Cartel Thugs Kidnap American 'Courier' in South Carolina
Jul
16, 2014, 3:26 PM ET
http://abcnews.go.com/US/
A kidnapping and ransom case in the Carolinas suggests just how active Mexican drug cartels have become in the U.S.
Today,
authorities identified three purported members
of a Mexican drug
cartel as the
alleged kidnappers of a South Carolina man last
week, according to a criminal complaint filed in
U.S. District of Court of South
Carolina.
The American
hostage, who authorities said was drug courier
for the cartel, apparently was kidnapped on July
9 and held for ransom, with demands for as much
as $400,000 coming from unknown cartel members
in Mexico.
After nearly a
week in captivity, the hostage was found chained
and blindfolded, but alive, in a Roseboro, N.C.,
home.
The criminal
complaint alleged the kidnapping and ransom
demands were triggered by the American courier’s
loss of 200 pounds of marijuana. The suspected
courier, identified only as "ES" in the criminal
complaint, "delivered 200 pounds [$200,000
worth] of marijuana to an unidentified customer.
ES 'fronted' the marijuana to the customer,
expecting payment at a later date; however the
customer absconded with the with the marijuana
and never made payment," according to the
complaint.
In the days
before the kidnapping, the FBI said, the
purported cartel operatives demanded repayment
for the missing marijuana from ES and his
father, “SG” who also was allegedly working as a
drug
courier.
When the
father could not come up with the money, ES was
pulled out of his truck at gunpoint the morning
of July 9 in St. Matthews, S.C., and went
missing, officials
said.
The truck was
found still running with its doors open in a
neighbor’s yard.
Later in the day,
ES’ fiance got a call saying that ES had been
kidnapped and the caller demanded to talk to SG
about a ransom.
Police and
federal agents were eventually able to trace the
origin of that call to a number in Mexico
and soon found
that Mexican-based phone had also placed calls
to another number in the South Carolina area,
officials said. It turned out
that local number could be tracked to a man
named Juan Manuel Fuentes-Morales, they
added.
Fuentes-Morales
was allegedly using that phone to communicate
with cartel leadership in Mexico, which was
making decisions concerning what ransom demands
would be made.
The criminal
complaint charged that between July 10 and July
15, the hostage-takers placed 13 calls to ES’
fiance and father. The hostage takers "demanded
ransom in amounts varying between $100,000 and
$400,000," according to the criminal complaint.
In addition to the ransom money, according to
officials, the kidnappers demanded the return of
the “200,” referring to the 200 pounds of
marijuana that had
disappeared.
Local law
enforcement and the FBI were able to listen in
on those calls and advised the fiance and father
to demand “proof of life” from the
kidnappers.
It was the “proof
of life” demand that helped break the case and
find the hostage. The family asked the
kidnappers to provide them with family
information that only ES would
know.
Law
enforcement agents listened in as the caller,
allegedly Fuentes-Morales, called his purported
bosses in Mexico and told them it would take at
least 30 minutes to obtain the information from
ES.
Police were able
to track the caller's cell phone location as he
drove to the home in Roseboro, N.C., where ES
was being held, and then listened again as he
called the family back with the answer to the
"proof of life"
question.
Now, law
enforcement closed the net. It obtained warrants
for the locations in South and North Carolina
and, at 5 a.m. Tuesday morning, the FBI’s elite
hostage rescue team stormed a home in Roseboro,
N.C., where they found ES and arrested
Fuentes-Morales and two alleged accomplices,
Ruben Ceja-Rangel and Luis Castro
Villeda.
The complex,
international case ended up drawing a massive
law enforcement
response.
“The cooperation
among federal, local and state law enforcement
agencies and across state lines was nothing
short of incredible throughout this
investigation," David Thomas, the special agent
in charge of the FBI’s Columbia, S.C., field
office, said in a statement after the arrests.
"The attention and resources contributed to this
investigation should send a strong message that
the FBI and its partners will not tolerate the
kidnapping of American
citizens."
Extensive
resources were sent to the Charlotte and
Columbia FBI field offices by FBI headquarters,
including the Hostage Rescue Team, a highly
trained group of special agents often called
upon to respond to an extraordinary crisis.
Crisis negotiators, multiple FBI SWAT teams,
evidence response teams, analysts, technical
specialists and other personnel were also sent
to assist.
The suspects made
an initial appearance this morning at the
federal courthouse in Raleigh, N.C., and will be
transferred to South Carolina to stand
trial.
The only
mystery left in this case was what really
happened to that 200 pounds of marijuana: If ES
was involved, was he ripped off or did he steal
the grass himself? The FBI said the
investigation into that aspect of the case was
“ongoing.”
ABC News'
James Hill contributed to this
report.
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