‘Coyote’ Gets 2 Life Terms in Kidnaping

A man convicted of kidnaping two children of an illegal alien in an attempt to force their mother to pay him an extra $300 for smuggling the family into the country was sentenced Friday to two concurrent life terms.

Jose A. Jaramillo, 41, received the sentence despite a request by his attorney, Paul Enright, that San Fernando Superior Court Judge David D. Perez reduce the charges.

Enright argued that Jaramillo should be sentenced for the crime of kidnaping, not kidnaping for the purpose of extortion, because the offense for which Jaramillo was convicted was mild compared to other kidnaping cases.

The maximum sentence for the reduced charge would have been seven years in state prison, Enright said. Under the life sentence, Jaramillo will not be eligible for parole for seven years, Deputy Dist. Atty. Vickye Mitchell said.

Jaramillo was convicted Oct. 11 of abducting Apolinar Orosko, 7, and his brother, Salvador, 5, after the boys’ mother, Angelina Orosko, allegedly told Jaramillo she did not have an additional $300 to give him for his smuggling services.

The woman testified at a preliminary hearing that she already had agreed to give Jaramillo $600 to act as a “coyote,” someone who smuggles illegal aliens into the United States, to bring her and the two boys from Tijuana to San Fernando on April 23.

Jaramillo told officials that he merely took the boys for a bite to eat after he could not find their mother when she went to make a telephone call, a probation report said.

Mrs. Orosko, however, testified that, when she said she could not pay him $900, Jaramillo angrily drove off with the children, threatening to return them to Tijuana.

The mother did not testify in person at Jaramillo’s trial last month because immigration officials had arrested her two weeks before the trial and returned her to Mexico. A transcript of her testimony was read to jurors because she could not be found. The probation report said the children later returned to Mexico.

“I don’t think the sentence fits the crime,” Enright said after the hearing.

If Jaramillo had taken the children for 30 years without asking for ransom, “the most he could have gotten is seven years,” Enright said. “Here he takes them for an hour to a hamburger stand; there is a dispute about the money, and he gets life in prison.”