Chiropractor Convicted in Ransom Kidnaping
A Covina chiropractor was convicted in Los Angeles federal court Thursday of engineering the ransom kidnaping of his former lover’s daughter in Mexico.
Dr. Rolando Peralta was convicted of conspiracy, international hostage-taking and extortion and faces a potential life sentence. He is the first person ever tried on the international hostage-taking charge in Los Angeles and only the sixth in the nation.
Peralta was accused of masterminding the kidnaping of his ex-girlfriend’s daughter in Mexico last June and demanding a ransom of $40,000 and land in exchange for her release.
On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge James Ideman dismissed charges against Peralta’s secretary, Socorro Contreras, and her common-law husband, Rigoberto Herrera, for a lack of evidence.
Peralta was charged with arranging the kidnaping of 22-year-old dental student Maria Robleto, who testified she was abducted and held for six days beginning last June 16, drugged and threatened with death before she was freed.
Assistant U.S. Atty. Carol Gillam contended Peralta engineered the kidnapping and ransom demands to gain control of cash and property he shared with Indiana Robleto, 46, until they split up in January.
Defense attorney Anthony Brooklier said he will appeal the conviction on the basis of statements made by the two former co-defendants in tape-recorded conversations that were introduced at the trial and that the attorney said unfairly influenced the jury.
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