Migrant hostage plot lands Arizona man in prison for 13 years

A Tucson man who helped hold migrants hostage for ransom in 2022 was sentenced earlier this month to 13 years in federal prison, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona said.

Julio Rodriguez Rojas, 30, pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting conspiracy to commit hostage taking.

How the migrant hostage scheme unfolded

Prosecutors said armed men abducted six people in the desert after they crossed into the U.S. illegally, took their cellphones and held them for several days in a house, screwing their room’s door shut each night.

On April 6, 2022, a man in New York told Homeland Security Investigations that two of his cousins were being held for a $16,000 ransom. They were the last of the group to have ransom paid.

Two days later, co-defendant Ivan Heriberto Borboa-Ruiz, armed with a pistol Rodriguez Rojas gave him, collected the money from undercover agents in Tucson.

After he called Rodriguez Rojas to confirm payment, co-defendant Olegario Lares-De La Rosa released the victims from a nearby car. Agents arrested Borboa-Ruiz as the victims reached them.

Lares-De La Rosa sped off, leading agents on a high-speed chase before bailing out of the car and hiding in residential backyards, where he was arrested. Rodriguez Rojas was arrested in 2023.

Lares-De La Rosa and Borboa-Ruiz, both of Mexico, were previously sentenced to 18 and 14 years in prison, respectively.

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