FBI Albuquerque
Office of Public Affairs
(505) 889-1300
December 4, 2019

Las Cruces Man Faces International Parental Kidnapping Charges

Clarence Michael Ransom, 52, of Las Cruces, New Mexico, has been charged in a federal criminal complaint with two counts of international parental kidnapping and one count of failure to report international travel as a sex offender.

Ransom was arrested in Mexico by Mexican authorities on Sunday and was returned to the United States, where the U.S. Marshals Service took custody of him Tuesday.

Ransom is accused in an FBI criminal complaint of taking his 3- and 4-year-old sons to Mexico in October, allegedly in violation of a custody agreement he signed with the children’s mother.

The boys have been recovered and are safe.

Ransom is expected to have an initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Phoenix, Arizona, on Wednesday.

Mexican law enforcement, the U.S. Marshals Service; U.S. Attorney’s Office; the FBI Legal Attache in Tijuana, Mexico; the Las Cruces Police Department; and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children assisted with the investigation.

The public is reminded all defendants are considered innocent unless convicted in a court of law.

(The FBI does not release mugshots of defendants.)