Federal authorities said that the woman sought to elicit public sympathy and raise money based on her undocumented status.
Federal prosecutors have charged a woman with faking her abduction by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in downtown Los Angeles last month, alleging a “well-orchestrated conspiracy” meant to elicit public sympathy and donations based on her undocumented status.
Authorities on Thursday announced that Yuriana Julia Pelaez Calderon, 41, of South L.A., has been charged with conspiracy and making false statements to federal officers, with prison terms of up to five years. She has not yet entered a plea and is expected to make her initial court appearance in the coming weeks.
“Dangerous rhetoric that ICE agents are ‘kidnapping’ illegal immigrants is being recklessly peddled by politicians and echoed in the media to inflame the public and discredit our courageous federal agents,” U.S. Atty. Bill Essayli said in a statement.
On June 25, friends, family members and activists gathered outside a Jack in the Box in downtown to decry what they said was the “kidnapping” of a local mother by a group of masked men.
A lawyer for the family told reporters that Calderon, who goes by Juli, had pulled into the fast food restaurant’s parking lot to evade two trucks that had followed her down Alameda Street. As she did so, the lawyer said, the trucks pulled in behind her and a group of armed men who didn’t identify themselves sprang out and took her into their custody.
