Hostage Taker Sentenced to over 15 Years in federal prison

TUCSON, Ariz. – Yuris Bonilla-Guizar, of Mexico, was sentenced today to 15 years and eight months in federal prison by U.S. District Judge Frank R. Zapata. Bonilla-Guizar and his co-defendant were found guilty by a federal jury in Tucson in October 2010 of Conspiracy to Commit Hostage Taking and Harboring Illegal Aliens. The pair detained a 32-year-old male victim in a room in a trailer for four days demanding money from his family for his release.

The evidence at trial showed that on September 22, 2009, the victim and four other illegal aliens were dropped off at the defendants’ trailer by an unknown co-conspirator.

The men had been guided through the mountains in Nogales, Mexico over the U.S./Mexico border to a car that drove them to the trailer.

The defendants forced the male victim to call his family every few hours and request $2,300 for his release.

The defendants put a gun fitted with a laser sight to the victim and threatened to kill him.

After two days in the trailer, the defendants took the victim’s clothes and shoes to further prohibit him from escaping from the trailer. 

The victim was rescued after a family member called Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and provided HSI with the phone number from which she received the ransom call.

Federal agents then used the number to track the victim to the trailer house and rescue him.

By the time the victim was rescued, he was the only remaining hostage; the other men had been released and their whereabouts are unknown.

The co-defendant, Carlos Calixtro-Bustamante, is set for sentencing at 9:00 a.m. on September 7, 2011, before Judge Zapata.

The investigation leading to the guilty verdict was conducted by agents of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations. The prosecution was handled by Kristen Brook, Assistant U.S. Attorney, and John Evans, Assistant U.S. Attorney, District of Arizona, Tucson.

CASE NUMBER:        CR-09-02343-TUC-FRZ

COMMENT: This is a very revealing story about what goes on with illegal entry…the illegal entrants are held hostage and ransom paid for their release.

RIO RICO MAN SENTENCED TO 120 MONTHS IN PRISON FOR TRAFFICKING OVER THREE TONS OF MARIJUANA

TUCSON, Ariz. – Elias Guerrero-Esquer, 44, of Rio Rico, Ariz., was sentenced on July 21, 2011, to 120 months in federal prison by U.S. District Judge Frank R. Zapata. Guerrero-Esquer had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 1,000 kilograms or more of marijuana and admitted to intending to distribute a total of 3,242 kilograms of marijuana.

A co-conspirator, Venancio Casarez-Sanchez, was found guilty by a federal jury on January 7, 2011, of conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute and possession with the intent to distribute 1,000 kilograms or more of marijuana. He was also sentenced to 120 months in federal prison by Judge Zapata. A third coconspirator,

Manuel Edgardo Cortez, pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing. Four other charged members of the conspiracy are fugitives.

The defendants named above were part of a conspiracy responsible for importing and transporting marijuana into and throughout the United States via semi tractor trailer trucks. Once the marijuana was

smuggled into the United States in commercial trucks, it was delivered to various produce warehouses in Nogales, Ariz., and loaded into different tractor-trailers that were licensed to travel within the United States.

Prosecution in this case resulted from three marijuana seizures in 2007 and 2008 totaling 3,242 kilograms of marijuana. On April 28, 2008, law enforcement agents observed a tractor trailer suspected of being

loaded with marijuana leave from a produce warehouse in Nogales, Ariz., and travel to a warehouse in Tucson, Ariz. In Tucson, the conspirators offloaded the marijuana from the tractor trailer and stored it in the warehouse.

A search of the warehouse resulted in 1,313 kilograms of marijuana being seized. At the scene a .40 caliber handgun and a police scanner were found in a pick-up truck that four of the conspirators were passengers in.

The Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland

Security Investigations, and the Arizona Department of Public Safety conducted the investigation in this case.

The prosecution was handled by James T. Lacey, Michelle Spaven and Joseph W. Hanley, Assistant U.S.

Attorneys, District of Arizona, Tucson.

CASE NUMBER: CR-10-0039-TUC-FRZ

RELEASE NUMBER: 2011-158 (Esquer)