BajaNomad
Super Administrator
Posts: 4999
Registered: 8-1-2002
Location: San Diego, CA
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Couple charged in plot to kidnap SoCal men for ransom after 2 were found dead in Mexico
by: Erika Martin
May 18, 2020
A former Colton resident and her boyfriend are in custody to face charges in a kidnapping-for-ransom plot that spanned the U.S.-Mexico border and left
two men dead, federal prosecutors said Monday.
Leslie Briana Matla, 20, a U.S. citizen living in Mexico, and her 25-year-old boyfriend Juan Carlos Montoya Sanchez of Tijuana tried to collect
$25,000 from the abducted victims’ families before they were found dead, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los
Angeles.
One of three kidnapped victims was able to escape death. The men — residents of San Diego, Norwalk and Pasadena — were in Tijuana on business or
to visit family when they were abducted on March 28, April 13 and April 22, authorities said.
Their families then got a call from a Mexican phone number, ordering them to leave ransom money at a designated location in California, where Matla
would retrieve it, officials said.
Prosecutors did not name the slain men. But the Los Angeles Times identified them as Salvador Acosta Medina of San Diego and Edgar Esteban Guzman of
Norwalk, citing the criminal complaint.
Both Medina and Guzman were found dead in Mexico one day after being abducted, in spite of their families’ attempts to pay a $25,000 ransom.
Medina’s adult son left a bag with the cash inside in a McDonald’s woman’s restroom in San Ysidro, while Guzman’s family tried to pay a woman
prosecutors believe was Matla at a Lowe’s parking lot in Norwalk, according to court documents.
The Pasadena victim was rescued the same day he was kidnapped after a relative reported the ransom request. The victim’s family told investigators
they were asked to hand over $20,000 to a pregnant woman at a Food 4 Less parking lot in Lynwood.
The man was being held hostage at a Tijuana hotel, where the first two victims had also been detained. Mexican authorities arrested nine suspects at
the hotel, officials said.
After reviewing border crossing records and security cameras and the ransom drop-off spots, detectives identified Matla as the woman sent to collect
the payments. Other records show Sanchez received wire transfers from two of the victims, prosecutors said.
Both Matla and Sanchez were arrested in San Diego — Matla on Thursday and Sanchez on Sunday — to face one count each of money laundering
conspiracy. If convicted as charged, each could face up to life in federal prison.
Sanchez was scheduled to appear in federal court in L.A. Monday afternoon, while Matla remains in U.S. custody after her initial appearance Friday,
officials said.
https://ktla.com/news/local-news/couple-charged-in-plot-to-k...
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Feathers
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Bad f-ing people!
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thebajarunner
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3718
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Location: Arizona....."Free at last from crumbling Cali
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Lucky for them that they are incarcerated in California
They will be released by the weekend like all the rest of the bad guys now walking the streets
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bajatrailrider
Super Nomad
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Location: Mexico
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No law.in Mexico now California.
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Pacifico
Super Nomad
Posts: 1299
Registered: 5-26-2008
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Hang em' high!!!
"Plan your life as if you are going to live forever. Live your life as if you are going to die tomorrow." - Carlos Fiesta
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AKgringo
Elite Nomad
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Registered: 9-20-2014
Location: Anchorage, AK (no mas!)
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But only with a properly sanitized rope!
If you are not living on the edge, you are taking up too much space!
"Could do better if he tried!" Report card comments from most of my grade school teachers. Sadly, still true!
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thebajarunner
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3718
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Location: Arizona....."Free at last from crumbling Cali
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Not in California
Thanks to Newsom no one gets hung
Even though the voters said it was necessary
Just turn em loose and tell them to try and live a better life.
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Pacifico
Super Nomad
Posts: 1299
Registered: 5-26-2008
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Quote: Originally posted by thebajarunner  |
Thanks to Newsom no one gets hung
Even though the voters said it was necessary
Just turn em loose and tell them to try and live a better life. |
I can dream, can't I? 
"Plan your life as if you are going to live forever. Live your life as if you are going to die tomorrow." - Carlos Fiesta
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Ken Cooke
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8946
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Location: Riverside, CA
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Mood: Pole Line Road postponed due to injury
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The NO-TEL sounded like a criminal enterprise.
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