Hemet绑架移民索赎团伙头目认罪：运送逾百人非法入境，检方建议刑期不超过20年
据 City News Service 报道，加州河滨县 Hemet 市居民 Miguel Angel Avila 于10月21日在洛杉矶（Los Angeles）联邦法院认罪，承认绑架及共谋运送非法移民、为牟利运送非法移民等联邦罪名。Avila 现年24岁，是本案五名被告之一；检方已同意在量刑时建议刑期不超过20年，量刑定于2027年2月18日举行。
根据认罪协议，Avila 是一个以 Hemet 为据点的人口走私团伙的头目，该团伙运送了100多名非法越境进入美国的非公民。2023年3月22日，Avila 与两名同伙将三名移民转移到洛杉矶县一间汽车旅馆房间内关押拘禁。其中一名移民从二楼浴室窗户逃出，跑进附近一家商店；Avila 与一名女性同伙追到店内，Avila 将该移民摔倒在地、锁喉并多次击打其面部。警方接报赶到后，Avila 一行返回旅馆收拾物品，带着另外两名人质转移到洛杉矶另一处地点继续关押，直到受害者家人支付赎金。
认罪协议还显示，2023年3月23日，Avila 派两名同伙将一名人质送往圣贝纳迪诺县一处加油站，受害者的兄弟在那里交出1.1万美元现金换取其获释。Avila 的律师暂未就认罪一事回应置评请求。
本案源于联邦检察官办公室2024年公布的起诉：包括 Avila 在内共有五名南加州男子被控绑架移民并扣为人质索要赎金，罪名包括劫持人质、绑架与为牟利运送非法移民等，其中四人被捕、一人在逃。起诉书指控，该团伙2023年3月曾在亚利桑那州 Chandler 一处加油站劫走四名移民，先后关押在 Burbank 的住宅与汽车旅馆内，并向家属勒索赎金。时任联邦检察官 Tara McGrath 当时表示：「人口走私是危险的犯罪，这些被告将因虐待弱势移民牟利而受到司法追究。」
司法部加州中区联邦检察官办公室截至发稿时尚未就本次认罪发布新闻稿，本文认罪细节据 City News Service 对庭审与认罪协议的报道，案件背景据司法部2024年起诉发布与联邦法院案卷（案号 2:24-cr-00461）。
Hemet Migrant Kidnapping-for-Ransom Ring Leader Pleads Guilty: Plea Deal Caps Recommended Sentence at 20 Years
Miguel Angel Avila, 24, of Hemet in Riverside County, California, pleaded guilty on October 21 in federal court in Los Angeles to kidnapping and other federal counts, including conspiracy to transport illegal aliens and transporting illegal aliens for private financial gain, City News Service reported. Avila was among five defendants charged in the case. Prosecutors agreed to recommend a prison sentence of no more than 20 years at sentencing, set for February 18, 2027.
According to his plea agreement, Avila was the leader of a human smuggling ring operating out of Hemet that transported more than 100 noncitizens who had crossed into the United States unlawfully. On March 22, 2023, Avila and two co-defendants moved three migrants to a motel room in Los Angeles County, where they were held against their will. One migrant escaped through a second-story bathroom window and ran to a nearby store; Avila and a female co-conspirator chased him there, where Avila body-slammed the man to the ground, placed him in a chokehold and punched him repeatedly in the face. When police were called, Avila and his accomplices returned to the motel, gathered their belongings and left with the two other hostages, holding them at another location in Los Angeles until their families paid the demanded ransom.
The plea agreement also states that on March 23, 2023, Avila sent two co-defendants to transport one of the hostages to a gas station in San Bernardino County, where the man's brother handed over $11,000 in cash in exchange for his release. Avila's attorney could not immediately be reached for comment.
The case stems from a federal indictment announced in 2024, in which five Southern California men were charged with kidnapping migrants and holding them for ransom, on counts including hostage taking, kidnapping and transporting illegal aliens for private financial gain; four were arrested and a fifth was a fugitive. The indictment alleged the ring seized four migrants at a gas station in Chandler, Arizona, in March 2023 and held them at a Burbank home and a motel while demanding ransom from their families. Then-U.S. Attorney Tara McGrath said at the time: "Human smuggling is a dangerous crime. These defendants will face justice for abusing vulnerable migrants for profit."
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California had not issued a press release on the guilty plea as of publication. The plea details above are reported by City News Service from the court proceedings and the plea agreement; the case background is drawn from the Justice Department's 2024 indictment release and federal court records (Case No. 2:24-cr-00461).
来源：GSM·美国（原文链接）
图片来源：图：加州河滨县 Hemet 市中心 Harvard Street 与 Florida Avenue 路口清晨街景（资料图）。Thomas 摄，CC BY-SA 4.0，取自维基共享资源。Photo: Sunrise over Harvard Street at Florida Avenue in downtown Hemet, Riverside County, California (file photo). Thomas, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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