Two Texas men kidnapped two undocumented immigrants, took one to a Charlottesville neighborhood expecting to get ransom from a family member, didn’t get what they thought they were going to get, and shots were fired.
This all went down in 2023; the second of the two human smugglers got his prison sentence in a federal courtroom in Charlottesville on Tuesday.
Jordan Perez, 21, of Lockhart, Texas, was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison.
Perez had pleaded guilty last summer to one count of conspiracy to kidnap and one count of transporting an alien resulting in death.
One co-conspirator, Ricardo Ordaz, 26, of Cedar Creek Texas, was sentenced to 18 years in prison in January for his role in the conspiracy.
According to court records, Ordaz picked up the two victims from an area near the U.S.-Mexico border and brought them to a house near Austin, Texas, where they were held against their will with an armed guard.
Ordaz called and messaged the victims’ families and friends and demanded a cash ransom in exchange for their release.
The first exchange was in Texas for $5,000.
On Jan. 8, 2023, Perez and another co-conspirator transported the second victim to Charlottesville, where they were to exchange the individual for $10,000 in cash.
When Perez arrived in the Belmont neighborhood, he was told that the full ransom amount was not available, leading to an argument and shootout that left the unnamed co-conspirator dead.
Ordaz and Perez were arrested in 2024 in Texas.
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Chris Graham
