Leslie Matla, Juan Sanchez arrested in Tijuana kidnapping ring

Federal prosecutors said Monday they’d arrested a man and woman who they say were part of a cross-border kidnapping ring that grabbed Americans in Tijuana, demanded payment from family back in the U.S., and used the woman — an American citizen — to collect the money because she could cross the border despite coronavirus restrictions.

FBI agents in court documents detailed three kidnappings since late March, and in two of the cases victims were killed anyway, even though the ransoms were either paid or attempted to be paid.

Another victim thought he was going to be killed, but was rescue on April 22 by Mexico’s Baja Anti-Kidnapping Unit — though a pal of his was killed.

That man, identified only by initials “J.N.” in court documents, overheard his kidnappers say they had to have an American citizen involved in order to pick up the ransom and deliver it back to Mexico because of the COVID-19 border shutdown.

Arrested in San Diego on Thursday was Leslie Briana Matla, and her boyfriend, Juan Carlos Montoya Sanchez, was picked up Sunday, prosecutors said.

Ms. Matla, an American citizen who lives in Mexico, was caught on video entering the McDonald’s bathroom where one $25,000 ransom drop was made, and a victim’s relative identified her from their ransom conversations over WhatsApp, an FBI agent said. The FBI also matched her border crossings to the ransom pickups.

Ms. Matla is also noticeably pregnant, and the relatives in some of the cases were told they would be turning over the ransom to a pregnant woman, according to the FBI affidavit.

Ms. Matla’s boyfriend, Mr. Sanchez, who is Mexican, was connected to wire transfers from two of the kidnappings to him, and two relatives of victims identified him from their ransom negotiations.

The FBI said the first kidnapping was reported March 28, when Salvador Acosta Medina’s wife reported it. She tracked his phone location to the Aqua Hotel in Tijuana, about a mile south of the U.S.-Mexico border.

Medina’s family paid $25,000 in ransom, dropped in the women’s room of a McDonald’s in San Ysidro, California. But a day later his body was found in Tijuana.

On April 13, a woman reported to the FBI that her brother, Edgar Esteban Guzman, had been kidnapped while he was visiting relatives in Tijuana. The family agreed to pay a ransom of $1,000 and Guzman’s Chevrolet Camero, but the exchange didn’t happen.

A day later, Guzman’s body was found. His phone was also tracked back to the Aqua Hotel.

The third kidnapping was reported April 22 by J.N.’s sister to both the FBI and the Mexican Anti-Kidnapping Unit.

They received WhatsApp video calls from a number that was later matched to the same number used to lure victim Guzman to his death.

They negotiated a $14,000 ransom, but the drop-off didn’t happen — J.N. was rescued from the Aqua Hotel by Mexican authorities. Nine people were arrested in the raid.

The victim later told authorities he was lured into the kidnapping while trying to buy canned goods for his taco shop in Mexico. He was running low because of coronavirus restrictions. He and a friend drove to the house to make the pickup, but were grabbed and beaten and held at gunpoint, according to the court filings.

After the victim’s friend said he was from a poor family that didn’t have money, he was taken away and was later found dead.

The FBI had apparently been on the track of Ms. Matla and Mr. Sanchez before the final kidnapping. The affidavit filed in court shows an agent accessed their Facebook accounts on April 16.

Both accounts were deleted after the raid on the Tijuana hotel.