Verdict Is Guilty in Kidnaping of 2 : ‘Coyote’ Took Children to Force Her to Pay More, Mother Had Testified

A Los Angeles man prosecutors said is a “coyote,” a smuggler of illegal aliens, was convicted Friday of kidnaping two children to extort an additional $300 from their mother for his services.

San Fernando Superior Court jurors deliberated less than 90 minutes before convicting Jose A. Jaramillo, 41, of two counts of kidnaping for the purpose of extortion.

Judge David Perez could sentence Jaramillo to as much as two consecutive life sentences when he appears for sentencing Nov. 8, Deputy Dist. Atty. Vickye Mitchell said.

Jaramillo was found guilty of kidnaping Apolinar Orosko, 7, and his brother, Salvador, 5, shortly after he purportedly brought the boys and their mother, Angelina Orosko, from Tijuana to San Fernando the night of April 23.

Allegedly Charged $600

According to preliminary hearing testimony by the boys’ mother read during the trial, Jaramillo had promised to smuggle the family into the United States in the trunk of his car and drive them to San Fernando in return for $600.

Once he delivered the Oroskos to a relative’s house in San Fernando, however, he demanded an additional $300, the mother testified, and took the children from her, threatening to return them to Tijuana if she could not come up with the extra money.

Police called to the scene by the hysterical mother arrested Jaramillo about 30 minutes later when he drove back through the neighborhood with the children in the back seat of his car.

Orosko could not be found to testify at the trial because she was deported to Mexico about two weeks ago after U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service agents arrested her as she was traveling back to Mexico to care for a sick family member, Mitchell said.

Mitchell said the case underlines the extra problems illegal aliens have when they are victimized because most are afraid to contact authorities for fear of being deported. Instead of reporting crimes, many illegal aliens count victimization as one of the prices they must pay to remain in the United States, she said.

‘We Do Care’

“Hopefully, this will do something to let those illegals out there know that you really have to report crimes to be protected,” Mitchell said after the verdict was read. “We really need them as far as prosecuting cases is concerned . . . . This lets them know that we do care.”

Mitchell said this case was unusual because Orosko called police right away. In many of the cases she has handled, Mitchell said, police are called in without the consent of the victimized illegal alien.

“They’re drawn into the system without really wanting to be and they remain scared the entire time,” Mitchell said. “Personally, I feel very sorry for them.”

Haven’t Heard From Mother

No one has heard from Orosko since her arrest, Mitchell said. Her children are staying with a relative in San Jose.

Jaramillo took the stand Thursday to rebut Orosko’s testimony, saying that he first met the family when Orosko approached him at a gas station in the Firestone area late in the evening on April 23 to ask him for food and a ride to San Fernando. He said he bought the family dinner and took them to their relative’s house.

When he accompanied Orosko to a telephone booth to call her husband in San Jose, she asked him to fetch the children at the house so they could talk to their father, Jaramillo testified.

He said Orosko was not at the booth when he returned and he was arrested as drove them around the neighborhood to look for their mother.