Four Arrested After ‘Vision’ Sends Police to Captive Aliens

Four people were arrested Saturday in San Diego County after an apparent alien smuggling operation evolved into kidnapping and an attempted extortion of a Santa Ana woman and her daughter from Mexico, police said.

Two teen-agers, two younger children and their 22-year-old uncle were freed unharmed after a special weapons and tactics team in Logan Heights led police to a house where the victims were being held captive.

The alleged crimes occurred after Martin Saragoza Zamora, his cousin and her five children illegally crossed into the United States from Mexico. They reached their destination safely Friday, police said, 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, whose names were unavailable, scrambled to come up with the money. In desperation, the women offered to barter household items for payment, they told police.

Men Left Phone Number

The men, unsatisfied, 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. They then reportedly forced Saragoza and four of the 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 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 the children were not there, O’Dell said. All of the occupants contended they had no 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, 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. shortly after noon and found Saragoza and the children unharmed.

Three suspects--Javier Ortiz, 50; Alfredo Garcia, 24, and Chaverria--were taken into custody at the Franklin Street residence. Two more--Dolfina Molina, 45, and Jose Arriaga, 33--were arrested at the house on Commercial Street. All five were booked into the San Diego 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.

Murg said that to his knowledge, Santa Ana police had not contacted immigration authorities.