SAN DIEGO, Calif. (KESQ) – Three men who took part in the kidnapping of an 18-year-old U.S. citizen in Tijuana who was later killed by a co-defendant were sentenced to prison terms in San Diego federal court today.
Prosecutors say the victim was abducted from a Tijuana hotel, then beaten and tortured while his captors demanded a ransom of money or drugs from his family. A prosecution trial brief states the victim — identified in court documents as M.A.R. — had initially agreed to transport just over two pounds of methamphetamine across the border for one of the defendants, but stole the package, leading to the retaliatory kidnapping in May 2020.
M.A.R. was abducted in the garage of a Tijuana hotel where he was staying, then later beaten and tortured by some of the defendants, who sent ransom demands to the victim’s family seeking up to $3,000 or methamphetamine, authorities said…