Los Angeles Family Compelled to Pay Ransom for Relative Abducted in Mexico

A brother and sister have been sentenced for kidnapping a man in Rosarito, Mexico, and then collecting a $30,000 ransom from his family in Los Angeles County, officials announced on Tuesday.

Mario Alex Medina, 55, a.k.a. “Shyboy,” and his sister María Alejandra Medina, 52, a U.S. citizen living in Mexico, were convicted late last year of breaking into the house of a neighbor — identified in court documents as “R.V.” — in November 2022, kidnapping him at gunpoint, pistol-whipping him, and then firing a gun near his head, the U.S. Department of Justice stated in its news release.

“The next day, one of the co-conspirators placed a ransom call to the victim’s family in Los Angeles County and demanded $70,000 for his release,” the DOJ said.

The kidnappers also sent a video through WhatsApp of the victim being beaten to scare the family into paying.

Five days after the kidnapping, the family was told R.V. would be killed if they did not pay $30,000.

“Later that day, Mario Medina – pretending to be an intermediary between R.V.’s family and the hostage takers – told the victim’s family to meet at a McDonald’s restaurant in San Ysidro, located north of the U.S.-Mexico border, to make the ransom payment,” the DOJ said.

José Salud Medina, 32, a.k.a. “Gordo,” who is Mario Medina’s son and María Medina’s nephew, went with María Medina to meet the victim’s family the next day at the McDonald’s restaurant, collected the $30,000 ransom payment, and took the money back to Mexico.

R.V. was found by Mexican law enforcement a day later, “tied up and alone in a small, subterranean trench,” the DOJ said.

Mario Medina was sentenced on Monday to 25 years in federal prison and was ordered to pay $30,000 in restitution.

The judge sentenced María Medina to eight years in federal prison and ordered her to pay $30,000 in restitution.

José Salud Medina remains in Mexican custody on unrelated charges and is expected to be tried separately in the case. He is charged with one count of conspiracy to commit hostage taking, one count of conspiracy to demand a ransom payment, and one count of making a foreign communication with intent to extort.