Latest Legal News from the Criminal Courts in Houston, Texas

May 15, 2007

RIO BRAVO RESIDENTS AND MEXICAN NATIONAL SENTENCED FOR HOLDING A MINOR UNDOCUMENTED ALIEN AND THREE OTHERS HOSTAGE

(LAREDO, TX) – Two Rio Bravo residents and a Mexican national have been sentenced to lengthy prison terms for their roles in holding smuggled aliens, including a minor, hostage until payments were made for their release, United States Attorney Don DeGabrielle announced today.

At a sentencing hearing held today, May 14, 2007, U.S. District Judge Micaela Alvarez sentenced Alicia Arizpe-Duque, 28, and Rodrigo Arizpe, 21, both U.S. citizens and residents of from Rio Bravo, TX, and Ricardo Alfredo Nino-Ventura, 18, a Mexican national. Judge Alvarez held all three defendants accountable for demanding a ransom payment and for the use of a weapon to enforce the aliens’ detention, two factors which increase the range of punishment. In addition, the judge found that Arizpe-Duque was a leader in the smuggling operation further increasing her sentencing range.

Arizpe-Duque was sentenced to 324 months in federal prison to be followed by five years of supervised release. Arizpe and Nino-Ventura were sentenced to 188 months and 262 months in prison, respectively, for their roles in the smuggling operation. Arizpe and Nino-Ventura were both ordered to serve four-year terms. All federal prison terms are without parole. As a Mexican national, Nino-Ventura is subject to deportation upon his release from prison. All three defendants pled guilty to the federal immigration law violation in February 2007.

The investigation leading to the charges against these three is the result of the investigative efforts of the U. S. Border Patrol and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement to locate a minor undocumented alien whose relatives reported the juvenile being held against his will in and around Laredo, Texas. Relatives of the minor reported that they paid a total of $1,500 U.S. dollars in two Western Union money transfers sent to the smugglers holding the minor over the course of two days in October 2006. Arizpe-Duque collected one of the payments in the sum of $500 on October 22, 2006, at an HEB Grocery Store.

During the early hours of the morning of October 25, 2006, Border Patrol Agents attempted to locate Arizpe-Duque at her parents’ house located on the 1200 block of Paseo de Danubio in Rio Bravo. Although Arizpe-Duque was not found at the residence, agents discovered that the residence was being used as a stash house to hold four undocumented aliens, including an 11-month old baby. From interviews with the aliens, agents learned that the four undocumented aliens were a family unit waiting to be transported north of the border in a tractor-trailer. Nino-Ventura, Arizpe, and Arizpe-Duque’s parents were arrested at the residence.

Meanwhile, Arizpe-Duque and Jose Angel Alvarado, who resided together at an apartment on the 1200 block of Espejo Molina Road in Rio Bravo, were using their apartment as a stash residence for four more undocumented aliens, including the missing minor. Once Arizpe-Duque learned that investigating agents had been to her parents’ residence, the aliens were told to leave the apartment immediately. The aliens ran to a neighboring gas station where Webb County Sheriff Officers encountered them.

Through interviews with the aliens, agents learned that they had been smuggled into the United States and held hostage at the apartment pending payment of fees by friends or family. The aliens shoes were taken away to prevent their escape. The aliens were guarded by an unidentified accomplice who slept with a knife in the same bedroom where the aliens were being held. While being held, the aliens were fed once a day by Arizpe-Duque. Arizpe and Nino-Ventura served as the enforcers. Arizpe displayed a Beretta pistol when demanding payment from one of the aliens. On numerous occasions, Arizpe and Nino-Ventura demanded payment for the aliens’ release from the aliens and their relatives and threatened harm to the detained aliens. One alien was struck by Arizpe while he was on the phone with relatives seeking payment for his release. When payment for three of the four undocumented aliens was not received by the sixth day, Arizpe, Nino-Ventura, and the unidentified accomplice told the aliens that they were going to be beaten and thrown into the Rio Grande River. When the aliens begged Arizpe-Duque to release them, she refused saying she could not lose her investment in them.

Alicia Arizpe-Serna, 46, the mother of Alicia and Rodrigo Arizpe, and Juan Angel Alvarado, 23, who were convicted for their part in the operation, were also sentenced by Judge Alvarez today. Alicia Arizpe-Serna was sentenced to approximately seven months imprisonment for feeding and housing the aliens at her house on the 1200 block of Paseo de Danubio. Juan Angel Alvarado was sentenced to 41 months for allowing the use of his apartment on the 1200 block of Espejo Molina for the detention and concealment of the aliens.

This case was investigated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Border Patrol of the Department of Homeland Security, Webb County Sheriff’s Department, and was prosecuted by Assistant United States Diana Song.

 

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