Kidnap-Extortion Trial of Alleged ‘Coyote’ Opens

A man who purportedly made his living as a “coyote”--someone who smuggles illegal aliens into the United States--went on trial in San Fernando Superior Court Tuesday on charges of kidnaping two children to scare their mother into paying an extra $300 for his services.

Jose A. Jaramillo, 41, is charged with two counts of kidnaping for the purpose of extortion for the alleged abduction on April 24 of Opolinar Orosko, 7, and his brother, Salvador, 5. If convicted of those charges, state law requires that Jaramillo be sentenced to life in prison, public defender Paul Enright said.

Crossed Few Hours Earlier

According to preliminary-hearing testimony by the boys’ mother, Angelina Orosko, read at the trial Tuesday, Jaramillo had smuggled Orosko and her sons across the border in San Diego County a few hours before the alleged kidnaping took place.

Orosko could not be found to testify in person at the trial because U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service officials arrested her about two weeks ago as she was traveling back to Mexico to care for a sick family member, Deputy Dist. Atty. Vickye Mitchell said. She was then deported to Mexico, Mitchell said.

Superior Court Judge David Perez ruled that, with Orosko missing, a transcript of her testimony at a June preliminary hearing could be read to the jury.

Orosko’s relatives on both sides of the border have not heard from her since her arrest, and immigration records do not show where she was released after she was deported, Mitchell said. The children are staying with a relative in San Jose, she said.

At the preliminary hearing in June, Orosko testified that she met Jaramillo in Tijuana on April 23. Jaramillo told her that, for $600, he would smuggle her and the two boys across the border and drive them to San Fernando, Orosko testified.

Hiked Over Mountains

After 12 hours of hiking “over some mountains to get across the border” and riding in the trunk of the car with another man to pass border police at the San Clemente checkpoint, the family arrived at a relative’s house in San Fernando, she said.

“I was going to give him the $600 but, upon arriving here, he said it was $900,” Orosko testified. “He said he would take the children back to Tijuana if I didn’t give him the money.”

As Orosko called a relative in San Jose to get the additional money, Jaramillo stormed off, took the children by the hand, and drove away with them, she testified.

The hysterical mother called police and, when Jaramillo drove back through the neighborhood 30 minutes later, he was arrested, two police officers testified. The children were found unharmed in the back seat of his car, the officers said.

“Apparently he thought because she was an illegal she wouldn’t call police,” Mitchell said after the day’s testimony. “In my opinion, if it weren’t for the fact that a mother was concerned for her children, the police would not have been called . . . . Illegal aliens who are victimized are afraid to seek help for fear of being sent back.”

The trial is expected to conclude Thursday.

Jaramillo, who lives in Los Angeles, is being held at Los Angeles County Jail without bail.