Man gets nearly 16 years in prison for holding immigrant hostage

Pair demanded money from illegal alien's family for his release

Posted Sep 15, 2011

Janet Rose Jackman
TucsonSentinel.com

A Mexican man was sentenced to 15 years and eight months in federal prison Wednesday for holding an illegal immigrant hostage and demanding money from his family for his release, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced.

Carlos Armando Calixtro Bustamante and Yuris Bonilla Guizar were found guilty in October of conspiracy to commit hostage taking, hostage taking, and harboring illegal immigrants after holding a 32-year-old man against his will for four days in September 2009, said Sandy Raynor, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, in a press release Wednesday.

Bonilla was sentenced to 15 years and eight months in prison in October.

The victim and four other illegal immigrants were dropped off at Calixto’s Nogales trailer after they were led through the mountains and into the United States by an unknown person, Raynor said.

Calixtro and Bonilla forced the man to call his family in Mexico every few hours to request $2,300 for his release. The pair put a gun to the victim’s head, threatening to kill him, Raynor said in the press release.

After two days, Calixtro and Bonilla took the man’s clothing and shoes to prevent him from escaping.

The man was rescued on the fourth day after his family called Homland Security Investigations with the phone number Claixtro and Bonilla were calling from and agents tracked the number to the trailer.

When he was rescued, the other people who were held at the trailer had been released, Raynor said.