8 Suspects Held in Kidnaping of Santa Ana Auto Dealership Owner

Authorities arrested six men and two juveniles in Compton and Lake Arrowhead on Friday night and early Saturday in connection with the kidnaping for ransom of a Santa Ana used-car dealership owner, police said.

Three days after the abduction, police officers and FBI agents found Eugenio Valencia Duarte, 28, handcuffed but in good condition inside a residence in Lake Arrowhead in San Bernardino County, Santa Ana Police Lt. Robert Helton said.

The kidnaping occurred at noon Wednesday, when two armed men in uniforms came to Duarte’s business, Easy Car dealership, at 917 S. Main St., and without an explanation told him he was under arrest, Helton said. As employees looked on, the two men dressed as officers handcuffed Duarte and led him away.

The employees apparently thought “the suspects were the police,” Helton said.

It was not until after Justino Duarte received a phone call demanding $100,000 for his brother’s safe return that he realized Eugenio Duarte had been abducted and immediately notified police, Helton said. Over the next two days, as the kidnapers made follow-up calls to Justino Duarte to negotiate for his brother’s release, police and FBI agents monitored those calls, Helton said.

On Friday “the kidnapers increased the ransom demand to $125,000 and threatened to kill the victim if the money was not paid,” Helton said.

Justino Duarte told the abductors he would meet them that evening at a convenience store in Compton, police said. With an undercover Santa Ana police officer going along, posing as a relative of the victim, a Santa Ana SWAT team and FBI agents responded to the prearranged meeting.

But before the undercover officer could make contact, the suspects began to drive away in a car that witnesses had said was used the day of the kidnaping, Helton said.

At 10:30 p.m., officers stopped that car, as well as another car believed involved in the kidnaping, police said.

Five suspects were arrested from the cars. Two of the suspects were wearing blue security guard uniforms and were armed with revolvers, Helton said. They told police they worked for a security service in Lynwood, he added.

Based on information obtained during the arrest, a battalion of police officers, FBI agents, officers from the Santa Ana SWAT team and San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputies surrounded a home in Lake Arrowhead at 4 a.m. Saturday and found Eugenio Duarte, Helton said.

There, a man and two 16-year-olds also were arrested, Helton said. One of the 16-year-olds was armed with an automatic handgun, he said.

Arrested on suspicion of felony kidnaping for ransom were Samuel Carrera Jr., 19; Raul Ruiz, 20; Jose Luis Magana, 20, all three of La Puente; Andres Londono, 23, of Alhambra, and Mario Bermudez, 29, and Raul Pineda Bermudez, 35, both of Lynwood. They were held at Orange County Jail on $250,000 bail each. Carrera and Londono were identified as the two men who allegedly kidnaped Eugenio Duarte from his office, police said.

The two 16-year-old boys arrested were held at Juvenile Hall, police said.