Lakewood Police announced three men have been arrested and one is still at large in the kidnapping case of Andres Flores-Paredes, 27, of Denver, who was taken on Aug. 30.
Flores was safely recovered on Sept. 3, with no serious injury.
Police are still searching for Marco Cota-Tamaura, 36, and there is a $5,000 reward for those who assist in locating Cota-Tamaura. He is considered armed and dangerous.
Police arrested Jonatan Maldanado-Salgado, 19, Raymundo Maldanado-Salgado, 22, and Hernando Aguilar-Banuelos, 30.
"This is the result of six day investigation between federal, state and local authorities that shows great cooperation between all the agencies," said District Attorney Pete Weir in a news conference on Sept. 7. "The suspects will be looking at charges of first degree kidnapping, which in Colorado is a class one felony, with a presumptive penalty of life without parole."
The abduction occurred at about 8:15 p.m. on the Aug. 30th at Christal's, an adult bookstore at 6401 W. Alameda Ave. in Lakewood.
According to the affidavit, Flores-Paredes was shopping at the store when he saw four men wearing masks with guns coming for him. Flores-Paredes tried to hide behind the clerk, but one of the men pulled out an "AK-47" style gun. The abductors tied him up and left with him.
The clerk called Lakewood Police and they were able to identify Flores-Paredes thanks to a debit card he used at Christal's.
The following day Lakewood officers attempted to get in touch with Flores-Paredes' family, when they learned the family were already at a Denver Police station reporting him as kidnapped.
The same night Flores-Paredes was taken, Andres Flores-Zapata (his father) received a call from someone saying they had his son and demanded a $500,000 ransom for his return. Eventually the ransom was lowered to $200,000, and the caller warned that Flores-Paredes would be killed if the family didn't pay.
Based on the seriousness of the threat, Lakewood detective Bryan Feik was able to get call records on Flores-Paredes' phone and the abductors' phones.
Using the phone records and DNA found at the abduction site, police were able to identify one suspect as Cota-Tamaura, who lived at 7309 W. Hampden Ave. in Jefferson County, and began surveilling the property.
The abductors continued to call Flores-Paredes' family through Sept. 2 attempting to set up a location for the family to drop the ransom money. The initial plan was to drop the money on the side of I-70 at Exit 322, near Bennett, but was changed when the abductors could not locate the spot.
A new arrangement was made to drop money in front of a ranch at 13400 Harvest Road in Commerce City. FBI Agents then took the money to the front gate area of the ranch and dropped the money. Ground and aerial surveillance was employed throughout the situation.
At about 12:37 a.m. on Sept. 3 aerial surveillance saw an SUV drive up to the gate and someone got out and got the money. Surveillance followed the SUV to a home in Brighton to pick up two other people, and then returned to the ranch and left Flores-Paredes at the gate.
Flores-Paredes provided as much information as he could about the ordeal, including the physical abuse he suffered when he tried to avoid getting in the abductors' car when he was kidnapped.
He also said all the suspects he heard spoke Spanish, and one said they had come from Santa Ana, California, for the abduction.
Aerial surveillance continued to follow the SUV after the drop off, and followed it to a home in Fort Lupton. The suspects were seen going back and forth between the SUV, a horse trailer and outbuilding.
At around 5 a.m. on Sept. 5, a search warrant was executed at the address in Brighton, where Aguilar-Banuelos was taken into custody.
That same day another search warrant was executed at the Fort Lupton address, where Jonatan Maldanado-Salgado was taken into custody. Raymundo Maldanado-Salgado fled upon seeing the agents, but was taken into custody soon after.
At the property, agents found an AK-47, one assault rifle, two drum magazines, one grenade, tactical vests, masks and at least $60,000 in cash.
"We're proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with these other agencies," said Calvin Shivers, special agent in charge of the FBI's Denver office, during the news conference. "This is a shining example of what close collaboration can achieve."
In the process of questioning, law enforcement says Raymundo admitted to participating in the kidnapping and splitting the $200,00 with six accomplices --; Antonio-Cota, Jonatan, Aguilar-Banuelos, a man he knew as "Chicano," a man he knew as "Chicopola," and Chicopola's brother Luis.
It was revealed that Raymundo and Jonatan's brother Osmar worked on Flores-Zapata's ranch, and so were familiar with the family. Raymundo also said there was a conflict between Flores-Zapata and a member of Antonio-Cota's family (only known to Raymundo as "Diablo") over the horse industry. Antonio-Cota told Raymundo the kidnapping plan had been in place for four to five years.
An initial plan was to abduct Flores-Zapata's youngest son, but was unsuccessful. The week of the kidnapping, the abductors had been surveilling Flores-Paredes often, Raymundo said.
Jonatan was also questioned by police, and confirmed the identity of Cota-Tamaura and much of the story his brother told police. He also told police the kidnapping had been in the works for a month, and the AK-47 had been purchased via Facebook.
Raymundo said he received $20,000 for his part, and Jonatan received $60,000.
During Aguilar-Banuelos' interview, he said his part was to allow the other abductors to use his apartment to keep Flores-Paredes for a time. He said that he did not call the police because he was worried about getting killed and that the thought that police would not believe him about the kidnapping if he reported it.
Other potential charges the suspects face include menacing and criminal extortion.
The investigation is still open, so police were unable to get into the specifics of what conflict in the horse industry might have spurned the situation, nor could police confirm the citizenship status of the suspects
"This is certainly an unusual situation in Jeffco. I can't recall a similar situation in my tenure" Weir said. "However, we're very pleased with the results --; recovering Flores-Paredes alive and well is a great accomplishment."
Anyone with information should call Denver Metro Crime Stoppers at 720-913-7867.
from Lakewood Sentinel - Latest Stories http://lakewoodsentinel.com/stories/Three-arrested-in-kidnapping-one-at-large,235012
No comments:
Post a Comment