Three men who took part in the kidnapping of an 18-year-old U.S. citizen – he ultimately was killed – in Tijuana were sentenced to prison in federal court Wednesday.
Alan Lomeli-Luna was sentenced to 11 years and eight months in prison, Jonathan Emmanuel Montellano-Mora to 10 years and five months in prison, and Wyatt Valencia Pacheco to nine years and two months in prison.
Another defendant, Luis Armando Dorantes Rivera earlier had been sentenced to five years in prison.
Federal prosecutors charged five people for their roles in the victim’s abduction and slaying. Four pleaded guilty to various charges, while Brian Alexis Patron Lopez was tried, then convicted in March of killing the victim, identified in court documents only as M.A.R.
The prosecution said M.A.R was abducted in May 2020, then beaten and tortured before being shot and killed.
A trial brief states that the victim had agreed to transport over two pounds of methamphetamine across the border for one of the defendants, but stole the package, leading to the retaliation.
M.A.R. was kidnapped in the garage of a Tijuana hotel where he was staying, then held by some of the defendants, who sent ransom demands to the victim’s family seeking up to $3,000 or methamphetamine, authorities said.
Prosecutors said that one day after M.A.R. was kidnapped, Patron shot him five times. The defendant was convicted of charges that include intentional killing while engaged in drug trafficking.
Patron has not been sentenced. He is seeking a new trial over allegations that a juror received a text message she believed may have been connected to the case, then shared the message’s contents with other jurors.
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