LAREDO, Texas (AP) — Four people have pleaded guilty to their roles in a 2010 Laredo kidnapping that federal prosecutors say was ordered by a Mexican drug cartel.
The U.S. Attorney's office says 36-year-old Pablo Cerda, 29-year-old Ernesto Zaragosa-Solis and 31-year-old Efrain Garza kidnapped a Laredo woman whose stepson had allegedly stolen more than $1 million from the Zetas. She was taken from her home at gunpoint, bound and blindfolded. Grace Diaz-Martinez pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the kidnapping.
The next day, federal agents rescued the victim from a Laredo home.
All four charged with the kidnapping pleaded guilty Thursday in Laredo.
Cerda and 50-year-old Nicolas Sanchez-Reyes also pleaded guilty Thursday to conspiracy to export arms to Mexico for planning to move dozens of weapons to the Zetas in Nuevo Laredo.
