EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – A federal grand jury has charged 11 individuals with ties to Texas in connection with a string of kidnappings and robberies in three states.
The group has been linked to nine abductions at gunpoint between August 2022 and July 2023 in homes in Delray Beach and Homestead, Florida, Durham, North Carolina, and Little Elm, Texas, court records show.
A federal grand jury in Durham on Jan. 16 issued a sealed indictment against Jose Avila, Haisel Daily, Ruben Nicolopulus Silva, Nathan Quintana, Jesus Santiago, Deangelo Contreras, Tristian Gamez, Victor Gonzalez, Jesus Salazar, Christian Valdez and Jesus Valdez Jr.
The two-count indictment unsealed on Jan. 25 charges them with unlawful abduction for ransom or reward, and conspiracy to obstruct commerce by robbery. Several of them traveled to Texas after the event and three have been arrested. Records show that three were scheduled to make initial appearances in a Houston courtroom before U.S. Magistrate Judge Yvonne Y. Ho of U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas.
Records show the first kidnapping took place Sept. 12, 2022, in Delray Beach. That’s when Avila, Quintana and a man not accused in the indictment allegedly detained two victims at their home at gunpoint. The second violent abduction took place three days later and involved a victim taken from a Homestead home and driven against his will to Stuart, Florida.
The suspects allegedly traveled to Little Elm, where four individuals were detained at gunpoint inside their home on Dec. 22, 2022. The indictment alleges Contreras, Salazar, Gonzalez, Chrisian Valdez and Jesus Valdez were responsible for that abduction.
Another violent abduction involving two people at a home in Durham reported on April 2023 is linked to individuals named in the indictment. Records show Gamez, Salazar and Jesus Valdez were arrested in the Houston area last week.
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