An illegal migrant made up a bogus story about being “kidnapped” by immigration agents in an elaborate attempt to generate public sympathy and rake in thousands in donations, according to federal prosecutors.
Yuriana Julia Pelaez Calderon, a 41-year-old Mexican national living unlawfully in the U.S., has been placed into immigration custody and charged with conspiracy and making false statements to federal officers, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ). The arrest comes after her family claimed in June that she was taken at gunpoint by masked men and kept in detention at an unknown location.
“Dangerous rhetoric that ICE agents are ‘kidnapping’ illegal immigrants is being recklessly peddled by politicians and echoed in the media to inflame the public and discredit our courageous federal agents,” U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said Thursday in a prepared statement. “The conduct alleged in today’s complaint shows this hoax ‘kidnapping’ was a well-orchestrated conspiracy.”
“The defendant and all those involved will face the full consequences of their conduct under federal law,” Essayli continued.
A lawyer representing Calderon’s family held a press conference on June 30, claiming that she had been kidnapped five days earlier by masked men in unmarked vehicles at a Jack in the Box restaurant parking lot in downtown Los Angeles, according to the DOJ. Calderon’s family suggested the masked men may have been Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents or bounty hunters working with the agency.
The family’s attorney went on to claim that Calderon was taken to San Ysidro and demanded she sign self-deportation paperwork, according to prosecutors. When she refused to sign the documents, she was allegedly “punished” and sent to a warehouse at an unknown location.
The claims generated significant local media attention and prompted the Los Angeles Police Department to open a missing persons investigation. Calderon’s daughter also set up a GoFundMe page requesting $4,500 in donations.
Federal agents became concerned after confirming that Calderon was not in immigration custody and began searching for her over the Independence Day weekend, according to the DOJ. ICE agents were finally able to track down the illegal migrant mother on July 5 at a shopping plaza parking lot in Bakersfield, California. She allegedly continued to maintain that she was abducted by masked men.
Video surveillance — including footage of Calderon leaving the Jack in the Box in a sedan — and telephone records indicate that Calderon invented the entire story, according to the DOJ. Prosecutors also say the illegal migrant mother created fabricated photos of her “rescue,” which were allegedly made to look like she endured abuse while in ICE custody.
“Since early July, my office invested valuable time and resources working this alleged kidnapping investigation only to discover that it was a hoax,” Homeland Security Investigations Los Angeles Special Agent in Charge Eddy Wang said in a public statement. “The real cost of a fraud like this is the amount of fentanyl not seized, child predators not removed from the communities, and human trafficking victims not rescued because law enforcement re-directed resources to recover the defendant.”
Calderon faces a statutory maximum sentence of years in federal prison for conspiracy and up to five years in federal prison on false statement charges, if convicted on all charges, according to the DOJ.
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