By admin 
TUCSON, Ariz. (13 News) – A Tucson man was sentenced to 13 years in federal prison for kidnapping several migrants in 2022 and holding them hostage.
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The Department of Justice said Julio Cesar Rodriguez Rojas, 30, had pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting a conspiracy to hostage take.
The DOJ said Rodriguez Rojas, Olegario Lares-De La Rosa and Ivan Heriberto Borboa-Ruiz were all involved in the kidnappings.
Lares-De La Rosa was previously given 18 years in prison while Borboa-Ruiz was sentenced to 14 years. Both men were from Mexico.
The DOJ said the investigation began on April 6, 2022, when a New York man called Homeland Security and said two of his cousins were being held captive and that the criminals demanded $16,000 to release them.
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The two cousins were among a group of six people who were abducted by armed men in the desert after they crossed the border.
Two days later, two undercover agents met the kidnappers and paid the ransom. Two of the suspects were arrested after the hostages were released, while the third, Rodriguez Rojas, left the scene and was arrested the next year.
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