Two Permanent Resident Aliens Sentenced in Connection with Taking an Illegal Alien Hostage for Unpaid Smuggling Fees

TAMPA—United States Attorney A. Brian Albritton announces that United States District Court Judge Susan Bucklew yesterday sentenced Erisbel Artiles (age 31, a Cuban citizen and permanent resident alien, of Hialeah), tp 121 months in federal prison for hostage taking, and Artiles’s mother, Lazara Z. Moreira-Penin, (age 54, a Cuban citizen and permanent resident alien, of Hialeah), to one year for conspiracy to transport illegal aliens.

According to court records, on Wednesday, September 2, 2009, a Guatemalan citizen illegally present in the United States contacted Manatee County Sheriff’s deputies and reported that an alien smuggler was holding his brother, “Cesar,” for an unpaid fee. The complainant and a third sibling had contracted with alien smugglers to transport Cesar from Guatemala to Florida. They paid smuggling fees first to a smuggler in Guatemala (to transport Cesar illegally into the United States) and then to Artiles to transport Cesar from Texas to Florida. When Artiles arrived with Cesar in Manatee County to meet the complainant, however, Artiles demanded more money. The complainant could not pay, and Artiles fled the scene without releasing Cesar. The complainant then called Artiles and told Artiles that he would pay the new fee, but Artiles raised the price again, saying that he had to wire money to Moreira-Penin and that, if the complainant could not pay, he would never see his brother again.

Deputies and detectives from the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office assisted the complainant in recovering Cesar. Moreira-Penin eventually delivered Cesar at a gas station in Bradenton, where she was arrested. Artiles was later arrested in Miami, Florida.

The case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Manatee County Sheriff's Office. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Donald L. Hansen.