Cops in Nevada say a man claiming to be a member of “the Cartel” kidnapped three boys who were at a park before he took them to his home, beat them up and forced them under a crawl space.

Guillermo Aboytes Saavedra, 23, faces a slew of charges including robbery with a deadly weapon, kidnapping, false imprisonment and child abuse. The incident unfolded around 6:15 p.m. Tuesday when the sister of one of the victims called the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office after she learned he was receiving threats, a press release said. Deputies responded to the 200 block of Johnson Lane in Fernley, which is about 30 miles east of Reno.

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Around the time deputies arrived, the agency’s dispatch center began receiving calls from the victim saying he and two other boys had been kidnapped and were trapped in a crawl space. Deputies pinged the boy’s phone and began searching the area. Shortly before 7 p.m., deputies located the suspect’s home and rescued the boys from the crawl space.

Two of the boys suffered “substantial injuries” after Saavedra allegedly beat them with a wooded rake handle and scythe. The boys later told cops they were on the swings at a park when the suspect “came out of nowhere” with his fists balled up. He told the boys he “was a member of the Cartel.” Saavedra then allegedly slapped one of the boys in the face and said “he was not scared of jail and if he went to jail, he was going to kill them.”

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“The juvenile stated that Saavedra then told them they were going to go for a walk and to act normal and not look at any cars,” cops wrote.

He forced them down an alleyway before making them hop a fence that led to his backyard, cops said. Saavedra allegedly made one of the juveniles record him as he beat the teens. They were “continually removed from the crawl space and beaten,” police said.