Three Mexican men and a Tucson woman arrested last month after an armed standoff with local police and federal agents south of Tucson have been indicted on federal hostage-taking and alien-smuggling charges.
Faustino Chiquete-Reyes, 29; Nestor Chiquete-Reyes, 36; and Angel Reyna-Vargas, 38, were each charged with five counts of hostage-taking and two counts of harboring of illegal aliens for profit, while Maria Lourdes Ibarra, 24, is charged with one count of hostage-taking and two counts of harboring of illegal aliens for profit, according to documents filed in U.S. District Court in Tucson.
The four suspects were arrested Dec. 1 after a standoff with Pima County Sheriff's Department SWAT deputies and agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, court records show. A search of the home found 19 illegal immigrants, according to court records.
People are also reading…
ICE agents had been conducting surveillance on a home in the 9900 block of South Vanessa Lane, near South Nogales Highway and East Old Vail Connection Road, after getting a call on Nov. 30 from a California woman who said her boyfriend was being held hostage there, court records show.
The four defendants are scheduled to be arraigned Jan. 14.
Contact reporter Brian J. Pedersen at 573-4224 or bpedersen@azstarnet.com
