Three plead guilty to holding hostages
Three Mexican nationals pleaded guilty this week to holding illegal immigrants hostage in a Las Vegas motel room because they had failed to pay the money owed for being smuggled into the country.
Felipe de Jesus Flores-Villela, 33, Victor Manual Morales-Velazquez, 22, and Angel Rigoberto Uribe-Ibarra, 48, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to harbor undocumented immigrants for private financial gain. Two other men were named in the April complaint: Orlando Jimenez, 21, the only U.S. citizen, is scheduled to enter a guilty plea Tuesday; Gerardo Perez-Villegas, 21, is awaiting trial.
Seven illegal immigrants were being held for ransom at the Aruba Hotel & Spa, 1215 Las Vegas Blvd. South. The immigrants were told the fee to be smuggled into the United States from Mexico would be about $1,300. When they arrived in the country, the smuggled immigrants were told the fee had increased to $2,800, according to the criminal complaint.
The hostages were forced to call relatives in Mexico and direct them to wire money to the captors. Held in a single motel room, the captives were beaten when they threatened to escape or when they failed to come up with the funds. Federal authorities found weapons inside the motel when they raided the room on April 23.
According to statements the hostages provided to the federal government, Uribe-Ibarra was the "enforcer" of the smugglers. One man from Mexico contacted the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Florida and reported that his mother had been abducted and was being held hostage. The hostage-takers had threatened to kill her if he didn't wire them $2,800.
Immigration agents in California began receiving similar calls. The relatives were provided contact numbers that included the Las Vegas area code. The phone numbers were traced to the Aruba Hotel.
The hostages were held for several weeks.
The three men who pleaded guilty in the case are scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 6.
