Indictment Claims 7 Smuggled Aliens, Held Them for Ransom

Seven people, four of them illegal aliens, have been indicted on charges of smuggling aliens across the U.S.-Mexican border and holding them in a Santa Ana home until relatives could pay for their release.

Ramon Martinez-Lopez, 27, a permanent resident, and his wife, Rosalva Padilla-Barajas, 25, an amnesty applicant, owned the home at 1346 S. Olive St. from which the smuggling operation allegedly operated, according to court records.

Although 10 people were arrested by the Immigration and Naturalization Service on June 4, according to Tom Gaines, an INS assistant director in Los Angeles, only seven were indicted Tuesday in Los Angeles federal court.

Also indicted were Enrique Arroyo-Arroyo, 42, a permanent resident who apparently took charge of the operation, and four illegal aliens: Carlos Godinez-Rodriquez, 37; Benjamin Martinez-Torres, 32; Carolos Gonzalez-Diaz, 41; and Maria Ramirez-Valdez, 36.

The suspects will be arraigned Monday in federal court, said Grace Denton, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles. They each face a maximum of 15 years in prison and $500,000 in fines.

According to Denton, court records show that immigrants from Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala were smuggled across the border at Tijuana and eventually brought by car to Orange County, where they waited at the ‘drop-off’ home at Olive Street and Borchard Avenue for relatives to pay hundreds of dollars for their release.

The operation is fairly common, Gaines said. The INS had been working to break the ring “for some period of time,” he said. “There are still those who want to come to the U.S. and those who want to deal with humanity like it’s on the trading block.”

More than 50 people were found in the 2,000-square-foot home when it was searched, Gaines said. “It’s one of the nicest drop-off houses I’ve ever been in,” he said.