Children Held Captive After Family Fails to Pay Suspected Smugglers

Four people were arrested Saturday after an apparent smuggling operation involving illegal aliens evolved into kidnaping and extortion.

Four children and their 22-year-old uncle were freed unharmed after a special weapons and tactics team was sent to a Logan Heights house.

Their journey began when Martin Saragoza Zamora, his cousin and her five children illegally crossed into the United States. They reached their destination safely Friday, but once at the Santa Ana home of a relative, the two “coyotes” who had brought them across the border reportedly demanded $1,500 in payment. The children’s mother and grandmother scrambled to come up with the money, then, in desperation, offered to barter household items for payment, they told police.

The men were not satisfied. They left a phone number and a warning to “call when you have the money or you’ll never see your family again,” San Diego Police Sgt. Anne O’Dell said Saturday. They reportedly forced Saragoza and four children, ages 9, 10, 13 and 15, into a white van and drove away.

The two women turned to the Santa Ana police for help, who in turn notified the San Diego Police Department at 5 a.m. Saturday after realizing that the phone number was a San Diego one. The number was traced to a house at 2131 Franklin Ave., and the SWAT team was dispatched.

The house was surrounded and the occupants were ordered to come out, but the police soon realized that the children were not there, O’Dell said. All of the occupants denied any knowledge of any smuggling or extortion, O’Dell said.

But when Detective Dan Hatfield entered the house to talk to one of the residents, he noticed a piece of paper with the name of one of the victims written on it. As he began to handcuff 51-year-old Alberta Chaverria, who had previously denied any knowledge of the kidnaping, she had “a vision” of the children’s whereabouts, O’Dell said.

Following her lead, officers went to a nearby house at 2730 Commercial St., where they found Saragoza and the children unharmed shortly before noon.

Three suspects were taken into custody at the Franklin Street residence: Javier Ortiz, 50; Alfredo Garcia, 24, and Chaverria. Two more suspects, Dolfina Molina, 45, and Jose Arriaga, 33, were arrested at the Commercial Street house. All five were booked into the county jail on suspicion of kidnaping and extortion, O’Dell said.

Saragoza and the children, Antonio Orozco, 15, Olga Orozco, 13, Marteslicia Orozco, 10, and Leonardo Orozco, 9, were taken to the San Diego police station, where they were questioned and treated to Mexican food donated by a nearby restaurant. The victims were later taken by police to Santa Ana, where the family was reunited, Santa Ana Police Sgt. Rich Murg said.