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Amputation Threatened In Kidnapping
Victim Found Bound, Gagged In Phoenix
POSTED: 2:21 pm MST January 21,
2008
UPDATED: 5:57 pm MST January 21,
2008
PHOENIX -- Police rescued a kidnapping victim on Sunday whose captors threatened to cut off his hands if they didn't get a ransom from his friends.The victim, whose name was not released, was kidnapped Saturday after he left his west Phoenix home to go to the store, said Sgt. Joel Tranter of the Phoenix Police Department.The circumstances surrounding the kidnapping suggest that it is tied to human and drug smuggling, and said the kidnapping victim is "probably associated" with smuggling, Tranter said.Tranter said the victim's friends began to get calls demanding a ransom for his safe return.
In one of the calls, one of the suspected kidnappers threatened to cut of one or both of his hands if the friends failed to comply, Tranter said.The friends called police, and on Sunday, investigators said they found two of the men and arrested them.They learned additional information and found the kidnapping victim bound and gagged in a closet at a home in east Phoenix.Several more men were arrested at that home, and at least one gun was recovered.Those arrested are Cornelio Vega, 34; Jesus Casas-Sanchez, 25, and Adan Montalban, 36.They were booked on charges of kidnapping and theft by extortion charges along with immigration holds.Two additional people, identified as Josefa Sanchez, 40, and Andy Gordillo-Delacruz, 28, were contacted during the investigation and have immigration holds placed on them.While the investigation is ongoing, Tranter said the kidnapping appears to mirror hundreds of abductions of drug- or immigrant-smugglers or their family members that occurred last year in Phoenix.The abductions, which are common in Latin America, have moved across the border into the United States.Last year, 359 such kidnappings occurred in Phoenix, Tranter said.ELSEWHERE ON KPHO.COM: The parents of an 18-year-old who died after police shocked him with a Taser have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the town of Gilbert. CLICK HERE for details. MORE SLIDESHOWS: From the bizarre to the tragic to late-breaking news, visit the KPHO.com slideshow section and click away! CLICK HERE for images.
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Copyright 2008 by KPHO.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved.
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