Justice Department officials said Thursday they charged a Mexican woman with concocting a fake story about being kidnapped by federal immigration agents so she could bilk the public for donations.
Federal prosecutors in Los Angeles said Yuriana Julia Pelaez Calderon, 41, was charged with conspiracy and making false statements to federal officers after crafting an elaborate ruse about being snatched by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in a parking lot and then being held inside a warehouse.
“Dangerous rhetoric that ICE agents are ‘kidnapping’ illegal immigrants is being recklessly peddled by politicians and echoed in the media to inflame the public and discredit our courageous federal agents,” United States Attorney Bill Essayli said in a statement.
“The conduct alleged in today’s complaint shows this hoax ‘kidnapping’ was a well-orchestrated conspiracy,” he said.
Court documents said an attorney for Ms. Calderon’s family staged a press conference last month about how she was kidnapped by ICE agents outside of a fast-food restaurant in downtown Los Angeles and taken to the San Ysidro Port of Entry.
At a federal office near the border crossing, the family attorney claimed ICE staffers gave the Mexican national voluntary self-deportation paperwork.
The attorney said Ms. Calderon refused to sign the documents, and “was punished” by being sent to a warehouse in an undisclosed location.
Prosecutors said the deceptive press conference was the pretext for Ms. Calderon’s daughter to set up a GoFundMe page.
The daughter asked for $4,500 and claimed her mother “was taken by masked men in an unmarked vehicle” while she was on her way to work, officials said.
The GoFundMe is still active, but has only raised $80.
The fundraising page said the family faces eviction without Ms. Calderon around, and that she is the primary caregiver of her 13-year-old son with chronic asthma, two adult daughters with disabilities, as well as two other daughters who are children.
Prosecutors said federal agents scrambled to find her over the Independence Day weekend after learning she was not in immigration custody.
On July 5, authorities said they found Ms. Calderon in a shopping plaza in Bakersfield but that she stuck with the story about being kidnapped by masked men.
Court documents said video surveillance and phone records showed otherwise.
Cameras outside the Jack in the Box restaurant captured Ms. Calderon getting into the back of a car on her own volition. Phone logs documented that the suspect’s family had discussed law enforcement’s frantic search for Ms. Calderon and that they were concerned for her safety.
Prosecutors said Ms. Calderon created fraudulent photos to demonstrate her abuse while in ICE custody and her subsequent “rescue.”
She also planned on holding a press conference July 6 to juice donations for the GoFundMe page
Ms. Calderon is now in federal immigration custody. She faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted of all charges.
A lawyer for the Calderon family did not respond to requests for comment from The Washington Times.
• Stephen Dinan contributed to this report.
