A brother and sister from Mexico have been found guilty of kidnapping a neighbor, demanding ransom, and crossing the U.S. border to collect payment, ending in a dramatic rescue by Mexican law enforcement.
At a glance:
- Mario Alex Medina and María Alejandra Medina, from Rosarito, Mexico, were convicted of kidnapping a neighbor and demanding ransom payments from the victim’s family in the U.S.
- The siblings pretended to mediate with the family while secretly involved in the crime, collecting $30,000 at a McDonald’s in San Ysidro, California.
- The pair face up to life in federal prison, with sentencing scheduled for February 3, 2025.
On October 25, 2024, a federal jury in Los Angeles found Mario Alex Medina, 54, and his sister María Alejandra Medina, 51, guilty of a kidnapping and extortion scheme involving their neighbor, identified in court as “R.V.” The plot began on November 5, 2022, when Mario Medina and accomplices broke into R.V.’s home, kidnapped him at gunpoint, and violently assaulted him. Prosecutors revealed that the kidnappers sent a video of the victim being beaten to his family in Los Angeles County, demanding a $70,000 ransom.
Five days after the initial demand, the kidnappers lowered their ransom request to $30,000, issuing a threat to kill R.V. if the money was not paid. Mario Medina falsely presented himself as a go-between, directing R.V.’s family to meet his sister María and his son, José Salud Medina, at a McDonald’s in San Ysidro, just north of the Mexico border. The Medinas collected the $30,000 ransom and returned to Mexico.
The following day, on November 11, 2022, Mexican authorities located R.V., abandoned and tied up in a small underground trench, and successfully rescued him. José Salud Medina remains in Mexican custody on unrelated charges, but he is expected to face trial for his involvement in this case at a later date.
U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada condemned the Medinas’ actions, describing their conduct as a “callous disregard for others” driven by greed. Estrada emphasized that such violent crimes will not be tolerated.
The conviction marks another step in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Operation Safe Cities initiative, targeting violent crime in the region. Both Mario and María Medina now await their sentencing, where they face the possibility of life imprisonment for their roles in the harrowing kidnapping scheme.
But Democrats say we don’t need to worry about people coming illegally from the south…ok…
