United States Attorney
Northern District of Texas

1100 Commerce St., 3rd Fl.
Dallas, Texas 75242-1699

Telephone (214) 659-8600
Fax (214) 767-0978

KIDNAPPER WHO HELD TWO MINOR CHILDREN
FOR RANSOM SENTENCED IN FEDERAL COURT

United States Attorney Richard B. Roper announced that Ismael Jesus Valora-Flores, of Dallas, was sentenced today by the Honorable Ed Kinkeade, United States District Judge, to 48 months imprisonment. In April 2004, Valora-Flores pled guilty to kidnapping two minor children. Valora-Flores, age 26, has been in federal custody since his arrest in November 2002.

Ismael Jesus Valora-Flores and Guillermo Rodriguez-Flores, also of Dallas, were charged in a superseding indictment with conspiracy to commit kidnapping, kidnapping and unlawfully transporting illegal aliens. That indictment alleged that Valora-Flores and Rodriguez-Flores, conspired with each other, and others, to kidnap, and hold for ransom two children, a girl, age 16, and a boy, age 12. In September 2005, Guillermo Rodriguez-Flores, age 25, pled guilty to the kidnapping charge and was sentenced in January 2006 to 108 months imprisonment. Both Valora-Flores and Rodriguez-Flores will be deported to Mexico upon the completion of their sentence.

“It’s not uncommon for alien smugglers to extort more money from parents by ruthlessly holding their children hostage,” said John Chakwin, Special Agent in Charge of the ICE Office of Investigations in Dallas. “ICE and other law enforcement worked cooperatively to rescue the victims in this case. Perhaps today’s four-year prison sentence will serve as a threat to human smugglers, and a warning to their victims who risk their lives by dealing with people who have no regard for human life.” Chakwin heads the ICE office which covers north Texas and the State of Oklahoma.

According to court documents, in October 2002, the mother of the children made arrangements in Mexico with a Mexican national known as “Jorge” to smuggle her andthree of her children, the 16-year-old, the 12-year-old, and an infant child, into the United States for a $3400 fee. Jorge instructed the mother to travel by bus to Tejupilco, at an expense of 4500 Mexican pesos that was not included in the agreed upon fee. From that location, the mother and children traveled to a small town near the Arizona border where Jorge had reserved a room. A few days later the family traveled by cab to another location as instructed by Jorge. This time Jorge told them to each have 20 pesos in case they were stopped in the desert and robbed. From this location another male met them and then guided a total of nine aliens through the desert for two hours, during which time they were each robbed of the 20 pesos.

They were harbored for a week at an unknown location in Phoenix in a small home with iron bars on the windows with all of the aliens placed in one of the rooms. On about October 27, 2002, the two older children were held for ransom money while the children’s mother was driven to Dallas so that she could obtain ransom money for the release of her children. Approximately one week later, Valora-Flores transported the children from Phoenix to Dallas. Co-defendant Rodriguez-Flores advised the mother that the children had been transported to Dallas, but that he would deliver them the next day to a certain Fiesta grocery store in Austin, Texas. The mother sent the kidnappers additional money to complete their fee, but Rodriguez-Flores demanded further ransom from her for the children’s release. When she didn’t have it, he and Valora-Flores transported the children back to Dallas where Rodriguez-Flores continued to hold the children for ransom at his apartment. The U.S. Marshals Service intervened and later that day, November 5, 2002, the children were released near a retail store in Dallas and Valora-Flores was apprehended. Rodriguez-Flores was not apprehended until December 2004.

U.S. Attorney Roper praised the cooperative investigative efforts of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the United States Marshals Service. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Tammy Reno.

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