Two brothers who kidnapped three people without documentation and held them for ransom at an Escondido home in 2023 pleaded guilty Tuesday to federal charges, prosecutors said.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said that Virves Pablo-Francisco, 22, and his brother Nicolas Pablo-Francisco, 20, held a father and son from Ecuador and a 16-year-old boy from Afghanistan hostage and demanded thousands of dollars from their families in June 2023.
The siblings demanded between $4,000 and $10,000 for each person’s release.
Virves Pablo-Francisco also admitted to investigators that he provided the Ecuadorian father and son no food and told them they were required to pay extra if they wanted to eat.
Prosecutors say the abductions came to light last June, when the 16-year-old boy’s family in the United States was contacted by his kidnappers.
The family reached out to law enforcement. According to a probable cause statement filed in federal court last year, investigators found cell phone records for a phone the kidnappers used to call the family.
Records showed Nicolas Pablo-Francisco was the phone’s user, with a listed address in Escondido, according to the statement. Virves Pablo-Francisco was listed as the billing party for the account.
On June 14, 2023, agents searched the home listed on the phone’s account and found all three kidnapping victims. Nicolas Pablo- Francisco was arrested at the home, while Virves Pablo-Francisco was arrested later.
“Criminals involved in alien smuggling may think they will get away with taking migrants hostage because of the unique vulnerability of their victims,” said FBI San Diego Acting Special Agent in Charge John Kim in a statement. “They are wrong.”
Virves Pablo-Francisco pleaded guilty on Tuesday, while his brother pleaded guilty in February.
City News Service contributed to this report.