Last March, a man escaped from the second-story window of a motel in L.A.’s Koreatown and ran to a nearby boba shop, where he tried to tell workers he’d been held hostage.
He was there only for a moment before his alleged captors caught up to him, put him in a chokehold and punched him repeatedly in the face.
In a federal indictment filed in July and not previously reported, prosecutors allege that the victim — identified by the initials N.C.L. — was one of four immigrants held for ransom in L.A. after entering the country illegally and being transported from Arizona.
The defendants — Miguel Angel Avila, 22, Omar Avila Salmeron, 41, Jose Jaime Garcia, 20, Gabriel Michel Becerra, 22, and Jose Alfredo Moreno Gonzalez, 21 — face an array of charges including kidnapping, human smuggling and extortion.
Avila, Salmeron, Garcia and Moreno have pleaded not guilty. Becerra remains a fugitive. Salmeron, Garcia and Moreno are scheduled to go on trial Oct. 1. Avila has an Oct. 29 trial date.
Salmeron and Garcia’s attorneys declined to comment. Lawyers for Avila and Moreno did not respond to inquiries.
U.S. Atty. Martin Estrada said the defendants “preyed upon victims who sought to emigrate to our country.”
The case began when Avila allegedly instructed Moreno to drive to a Chevron gas station in Chandler, Ariz., on March 21, 2023, according to the U.S. attorney’s office in L.A.
Once there, prosecutors say, Moreno took hostage four Mexican nationals, including N.C.L. and another person identified only as J.R.H., and transported them in a truck to a restaurant in Burbank.
The hostages were then held in a house against their will, according to the indictment. Avila is accused of using N.C.L.’s phone to call the victim’s family member and demand ransom money. Avila is also accused of demanding ransom payments from a family member of J.R.H., asking for some of the money to be sent to an account in Mexico and the rest to an account in the U.S.
At some point the four hostages were moved from the house to a motel room, which prosecutors said was when N.C.L. managed to escape and run into It’s Boba Time, a shop in Koreatown. Avila caught up and assaulted him, prosecutors say, but the attempt to re-kidnap him ultimately failed, they say.
After the escape, Avila, Garcia and Becerra allegedly restrained J.R.H. and another hostage by tying their hands, then transported them to another house, held them in a room and threatened them with physical violence, according to the indictment.
The three men later drove J.R.H. to a gas station and took $11,000 in cash from the victim’s brother, prosecutors say.
The indictment also laid out several occasions dating to June 2022 in which the defendants paid co-conspirators to pick up and transport immigrants in the country illegally. In February 2023, Salmeron allegedly texted Avila pictures of payments to Garcia totaling $3,500 for transporting immigrants, the indictment said.
If convicted of all charges, each defendant would face up to life in prison.
“Our office is committed to ensuring that those who use violence to terrorize others face severe consequences for their actions,” Estrada said.
