2 Linked to Baja Police Held in Kidnap, Extortion of U. S. Surfer

A 34-year-old man described as a would-be Baja California State Judicial Police officer remained in U. S. custody Thursday, charged with the kidnaping and extortion of an American surfer at Rosarito Beach.

Meanwhile, U. S. authorities said that another man who is a full-time Baja state police officer was being held in Mexico in connection with the same case. His name was not available.

Sergio Barrios Trejos, a state police group chief in Tijuana, declined to comment on the matter, but he did confirm that two people were in custody there in the case.

Jorge Luis Corpuz Alvarado, a Mexican citizen who has a residence in Imperial Beach, was being held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in lieu of $50,000 bail, U. S. authorities said. Corpuz is an “aspiring” Baja officer, possessing a badge but not on the state police payroll, somewhat akin to a reserve police officer in the United States, said Robert Watkins, a spokesman for the FBI.

David Katz, the assistant U.S. attorney who is handling the case, compared Corpuz to a police trainee.

Corpuz is accused of kidnaping and attempting to extort $2,000 in ransom from Randall James Wolford, 29, a San Diego resident who was on a surfing trip to Rosarito Beach when the alleged incident occurred Tuesday. On Wednesday, Corpuz pleaded not guilty before U. S. Magistrate Irma E. Gonzalez.

According to a federal affidavit in the case, Corpuz and an accomplice approached Wolford and Travis John Curl of Lakeside while the two were smoking a marijuana cigarette Tuesday morning in Curl’s car, south of Rosarito Beach. The two identified themselves as Mexican police officers, flashed their credentials, and advised the two Americans that they were under arrest for possession of marijuana, the affidavit said.

The two were then taken to a used-car lot in Tijuana, where Corpuz allegedly told them they could be released if they paid $2,000, the affidavit stated. Wolford was allowed to call a friend in San Diego, who agreed to come up with the money and rendezvous with Wolford and Corpuz at the Plaza Bonita Shopping Center in National City, according to the affidavit.

But the friend also alerted authorities, and the National City police were there to arrest Corpuz on Tuesday afternoon. Two women and a child who accompanied Corpuz were released, authorities said.

Curl remained in Mexico until his release was secured that evening.