A 20-year-old woman and father of four who were supposed to be smuggled across the US-Mexico border were held hostage and later disappeared after their families paid thousands of dollars for their release.
SAN DIEGO (CN) – A California man pleaded guilty in federal court Tuesday to his role in a smuggling scheme that held migrants hostage in Mexico while demanding ransom payments from their families, the Justice Department said. DESIGNATED.
Isaac Jimenez, 30, of Escondido, California, is charged with conspiracy to smuggle immigrants into the country and bringing immigrants for financial gain, the latter of which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of three years in prison.
According to the Justice Department, Jimenez and his associates would agree to bring the immigrants to the United States for thousands of dollars, but instead extort their worried families for even more money.
Jimenez admitted that he coordinated the smuggling scheme with his accomplices to bring immigrants illegally into the United States for a price. He also admitted to collecting ransom payments from family members of immigrants who were held against their will in Tijuana, Mexicoprosecutors said.
At least two victims disappeared after their families made multiple ransom payments totaling at least $10,000. The two victims included a father of four who were US citizens and a young woman from Tijuana.
Although Jimenez did not personally hold the immigrants hostage, he knew his associates were doing so in an effort to extract extra money from their families, the department said. Despite this knowledge, he continued his role in the scheme, prosecutors said.
The smugglers kept the father of four, identified as CGC, at home indictment filed in the Southern District of California for a $15,000 reward in September 2024. His wife, a U.S. citizen, made two payments to Jimenez on two different days at two locations in Orange County. Jimenez later transported that payment across the border.
But that was not enough. Prosecutors said Jimenez and his associates made additional ransom demands to the family, some of which were paid by the man’s wife and other family members. After the family could no longer provide money, communications were cut off. According to Jimenez, the man was killed in Mexico.
In another incident that year, Jimenez negotiated with a previous client to have the young woman from Tijuana, identified as VAE in indictmentwas smuggled into the US for $7,000 in December 2024. But before the woman was brought to the US, Jimenez and his associates held her against her will and demanded $30,000 for her release from her family.
The smugglers reportedly sent video calls to the woman’s fiance and family members pointing guns and beating her, the Justice Department said. Although the family sent them an additional $10,000, the woman was not released. The department reported that she was also likely killed in Mexico, according to Jimenez.
Attorney Douglas Brown, who represents Jimenez, said Jimenez did not intend for the human cargo to be held hostage. What started as a non-violent smuggling operation it later came under the control of a rival cartel that quickly turned violent, Brown said.
“He had nothing to do with it,” Brown said. “It all happened in Mexico. Unfortunately, because he was involved in bringing people to the US, it’s a penny to a pound.”
Jimenez was involved in facilitating the ransom payments but was largely kept in the dark, Brown said.
Additional details of the cartels were not available in public court documents.
Jimenez agreed to pay $24,500 for family members of missing persons as part of his plea agreement for funeral expenses and as compensation for part of the ransom payments made to the smuggling organization.
“He thinks it was a very tragic event and he’s very sorry for his involvement,” Brown said. “All he can do is accept it and move on.”
Jimenez was arrested in July 2025. He is scheduled to be sentenced on September 11, 2026, before US District Judge Janis Sammartino, a George W. Bush appointee.
Subscribe to our free newsletters
Our weekly newsletter Closing arguments provides the latest on ongoing trials, major litigation and decisions in courts around the US and the world, while monthly Under the lights feeds legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.
