Businessman's kidnapper to face federal charges
McALLEN - Up to 10 men could face federal charges in connection with a local businessman's kidnapping earlier this year, authorities said.
Police have already arrested several of the suspected abductors on state charges but hope the men will be prosecuted at the federal level to face stiffer penalties, authorities said.
The act of conspiracy to commit a kidnapping, or of keeping a victim for more than 24 hours, can be interpreted as a federal offense under certain circumstances, officials said.
"The whole case is going federal," McAllen police Chief Victor Rodriguez said. "Even those men that we've already arrested."
FBI agents said they filed the first set of charges Wednesday against Jose Alfredo Gonzalez, 34, and Uvaldo Quintero, 26, two men accused of participating in the plot.
But cases could soon be opened against at least eight other defendants, many of whom are already in custody, Rodriguez said.
State and federal prosecutors accuse the men of plotting the Jan. 28 abduction of the local businessman and then demanding thousands of dollars for his safe return.
The case drew considerable attention at the time because the victim - whose name has been withheld to protect his safety - was not linked to organized crime or drug trafficking, unlike the majority of similar cases in the area, police said.
Investigators said they believe the suspects approached the victim as he was shutting down his business for the night.
One of the men asked him for assistance before forcing him at gunpoint into a waiting SUV, officials said.
The kidnappers placed a pillowcase over his head and took him to a trailer in remote Hidalgo County, investigators said.
Hours later, a kidnapper placed a ransom call to the businessman's wife, demanding $250,000 to prevent her husband's death, according to a criminal complaint filed in his case.
The men later lowered their ransom demand to $125,000, and undercover FBI agents arranged a drop-off point outside a Houston pharmacy.
Once the money changed hands, authorities say, a kidnapper and a group of other men released the businessman Jan. 30 near the intersection of Ware Road and Mile 7 Road North.
A kidnapper later led investigators to his $6,700 share of the ransom money after his arrest in February, said FBI Special Agent Edward Dominguez in an affidavit filed in the case.
Gonzalez and Quintero remain in the Hidalgo County Jail on charges of aggravated kidnapping and engaging in organized criminal activity, respectively.
