4 Hidalgo County residents sentenced in hostage case

A federal judge on Thursday sentenced the last two of four Hidalgo County residents to prison terms for harboring a Guatemalan woman and holding her hostage.

Alvaro Hernandez, a 22-year-old McAllen resident, and Ramiro Basaldua II, a 35-year-old Pharr resident, appeared before U.S. District Judge Randy Crane’s courtroom, where Hernandez received five years in prison on a count of hostage taking and Basaldua received nine years on a count bringing in and harboring people in the country illegally.

Hernandez and Basaldua previously reached plea deals and admitted their guilt, records show.

On March 23, 22-year-old Donna resident Rebecca Arevalo and 22-year-old Pharr resident Sarai Elizondo received their sentences.

Elizondo received nearly five years in prison, while Arevalo was sentenced to nearly four years.

Both had previously pleaded guilty to bringing in and harboring people in the country illegally.

In a news release, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas said that a 19-year-old Guatemalan woman illegally entered the United States in March 2017 with the hopes of reuniting with her brother in California.

“She had to stay in various … stash homes in the Rio Grande Valley area. Eventually, Hernandez and Arevalo picked her up in Edinburg and took her to the Texas Inn hotel in McAllen,” the news release said.

Between March 22 and March 27, 2017, federal prosecutors say Hernandez, Basaldua, Elizondo and Arevalo held the woman against her will in a hotel room.

“During that time, the men threatened her life and made calls to her brother for a ransom to spare her. Elizondo and Arevalo also attempted to make the victim look more ‘American’ by fixing her hair, eyebrows and nails,” the news release said.

The woman’s brother paid $4,400 in ransom for her release.

“Once Hernandez received the payments from I.D.C.’s family member, Hernandez told the family member that he would not bring her to Houston. Hernandez told the family members they would have to come to McAllen and take her to Houston themselves,” the criminal complaint said.

Hernandez later dropped the woman off at a park in McAllen and told her to wait there for her family, according to the complaint.