5/21/2014
.jpg?w=440&h=330&aspect=nostretch "The FBI reports a Weslco man is behind bars after holding an immigrant for ransom")
A desperate mother turned to FBI agents after a human smuggling ring held her daughter for ransom and threatened to send her in pieces if she didn't pay up.
But federal court records show that investigation ended with one man behind bars and the girl being rescued.
FBI agents arrested Juvencio Martinez-Martinez on federal hostage taking charges in Weslaco on Thursday.
Court records show that the investigation started in upstate New York.
A woman living there told police and the FBI that her daughter left El Salvador and entered the United States illegally.
Human smugglers in the Rio Grande Valley kept demanding more and more money from the mother.
The smugglers allegedly threatened to kill the woman's daughter, if they didn’t get the cash.
The mother turned to police and then the FBI, who set up a sting operation across state lines.
Court records show that Martinez-Martinez went to pick up a Moneygram payment inside a Walmart store in Weslaco on Thursday.
FBI agents arrested Martinez-Martinez as he was leaving the store.
Martinez-Martinez led authorities back to the stash house were the woman's daughter was rescued.
Investigators reported finding three other immigrants, including one underage girl, inside the delapidated home.
Martinez-Martinez appeared before a U.S. Magistrate Judge Dorina Ramos in McAllen on Monday.
Judge Ramos denied bond for Martinez-Martinez until a Thursday morning hearing.
Martinez-Martinez is expected to be extradited to New York for prosecution of his case.
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