Two Honduran nationals have been charged with conspiring to kidnap a Guatemalan man who had illegally entered the U.S. and then demanded ransom from the victim’s family living in Southern California, the Justice Department announced Monday.

Darwin Jeovany Palma Pastrana, 30, and Eduar Isrrael Sauceda Nuñez, 25, both living in Albuquerque, New Mexico, conspired to kidnap and hold for ransom migrants illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Central District of California. Once in the U.S., federal prosecutors said the migrants were driven to stash houses in Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, where the migrants' phones were seized and not returned.

Palma, who was arrested in New Mexico last month, is charged with one count of conspiracy, one count of kidnapping, one count of interstate communication containing a demand or request for ransom, and one count of making a threat by interstate communication. He pleaded not guilty and remains jailed without bond.

Sauceda, who remains at large, is charged with one count of conspiracy, one count of kidnapping, one count of one count of interstate communication containing a demand or request for ransom, and one count of transportation of aliens within the United States for private financial gain. If convicted, both Palma and Saucedo would face a statutory maximum sentence of life in federal prison.

"These defendants allegedly helped to smuggle migrants and then take advantage of them by demanding ransom from the victims’ families to secure their release," said U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada in a statement. "We will use our powerful tools to hold accountable those who use violence to profit off of vulnerable victims."

Prosecutors: Men mislead migrants and their families

According to the indictment, Palma and Sauceda recruited others to help carry out the conspiracy and led migrants and their families through various fake reunions.

On April 1, Palma told Sauceda that one victim, a Guatemalan national who had entered the U.S. illegally from Mexico, had to pay $1,500 before being released to his family, federal prosecutors said. Sauceda, according to prosecutors, then ordered the victim to contact a family member to meet at a Jack in the Box restaurant parking lot in Norwalk, California.

During the meeting, prosecutors said Sauceda locked the victim inside the vehicle and demanded a $1,500 ransom payment from the victim's relative before driving away with the victim. Believing the ransom would be paid after Palma contacted the victim’s relative, Sauceda returned to the parking lot and was arrested by authorities.

As he was being pulled over, Sauceda placed about $9,290 in cash and receipts of money transfers to people outside of the U.S. in a center console, the DOJ release added. Federal prosecutors said Palma threatened the Guatemalan migrant's family member the next day over the messaging application WhatsApp.

"Everyone in this country who is a victim of a serious crime is protected by U.S. law and this case is no exception," said Akil Davis, the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office. "The exploitation of vulnerable individuals and their families will be fully investigated by the FBI and its law enforcement partners."

'Virtual kidnapping extortion'

The FBI has previously warned that crimes involving "virtual kidnapping extortion" targeting immigrants in the U.S. have been on the rise. Under the scam, "nefarious actors" scour social media for victims, FBI Special Agent Andrés Hernández, who runs the agency's Violent Crimes Task Force in El Paso, Texas, told USA TODAY in 2023.

An immigrant in the U.S. who posts about a missing family member is a prime target, Hernández said. The FBI doesn't enforce immigration laws, he said, and anyone who is a target — U.S. citizen or not — should report it.

The FBI treats every case as a potential real kidnapping, he said

Contributing: Lauren Villagran, USA TODAY

Contact reporter Krystal Nurse at [email protected]. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter,@KrystalRNurse.