Mexican police arrest two Valley residents on kidnapping charges

REYNOSA -- Two Rio Grande Valley residents remained in a Reynosa jail Wednesday, accused of kidnapping a local businessman, Mexican authorities said.

Police arrested the two Valley residents along with a Reynosa resident Tuesday after the trio retrieved a $50,000 ransom for the man, whom police suspect they kidnapped July 9 in Reynosa. The ransom was left at a mall on the city's south side.

Authorities declined to identify the victim but said he was a Reynosa resident.

Once in police custody, the three suspects led investigators to the hostage, who appeared badly beaten and malnourished, said Ernesto Eduardo Saenz Fragozo, a Tamaulipas state prosecutor.

San Juan resident Agustin Edmundo Torres Flores, 26, McAllen resident Cantalicia Cantu Garza, 21, and Reynosa resident Francisca Martinez Vianey Hernandez, 28, are expected to be arraigned on kidnapping charges today.

In video originally broadcast by Mexican new outlets, Torres appeared to have been badly beaten; however, Saenz said the man sustained the wounds when he tripped.

Police are also searching for two Pharr residents in connection with the alleged kidnapping. Manuel Rodriguez Ozuna, age unknown, and Eduardo de Leon, 28, are the suspected ringleaders of the criminal gang, Saenz said.

"We are looking for five more (people), but we do not want to give their names so as not to interfere with the investigation," Saenz said in Spanish.

Authorities suspect the group might be involved in other kidnappings.

Efforts to contact family or friends of the two Valley residents in the Mexican jail were unsuccessful. At an apartment in San Juan where police said Torres lives, two men made threatening gestures toward a reporter and declined to comment.

A message left at Cantu's home in McAllen was not returned.

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Sean Gaffney covers law enforcement and general assignments for The Monitor. He can be reached at (956) 683-4434.