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Home Feature - Column One Southern District of California: Three San Diego Residents Sentenced for Conspiring to Kidnap a Former Business Associate with Intent to Intimidate or Murder

Southern District of California: Three San Diego Residents Sentenced for Conspiring to Kidnap a Former Business Associate with Intent to Intimidate or Murder

Southern District of California: Three San Diego Residents Sentenced for Conspiring to Kidnap a Former Business Associate with Intent to Intimidate or Murder

Watch Our City News Service, San Diego: Yesterday, Salam Razuki, Sylvia Gonzales and Elizabeth Juarez were sentenced in federal court for their role in a conspiracy to have a former business associate kidnapped. Razuki and Gonzales were sentenced to 84 months in prison, and Juarez was sentenced to 46 months.

The three defendants pleaded guilty in November 2022, admitting to conspiring to have the victim taken to Mexico to be intimidated or murdered. The victim had ongoing business disputes and civil litigation pending against Razuki and others, which could have resulted in significant monetary judgments.

The plan was thwarted when the person they solicited and paid to commit the crime contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Through the cooperation of that individual, subsequent planning meetings were recorded, leading to the arrest of Razuki, Gonzales and Juarez before the plan could be executed.

In pronouncing the sentence, the Honorable Judge Cathy Ann Bencivengo noted the “extremely egregious” nature of the defendants’ plan to have the victim “brought to Mexico to disappear, whether that meant leaving him there, intimidating him there or, as the defendants have all pled to, anticipating him being killed there.”

U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman thanked the prosecution team and FBI agents for their excellent work on the case. “Fortunately, due to a tip from a conscientious citizen, this cold, calculated and terrifying plan was thwarted,” said Grossman. “The tables have been turned, and the justice system has held all perpetrators accountable.”

Stacey Moy, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI San Diego Field Office, also commented on the case. “These three defendants callously conspired to kidnap and use violence in order to resolve a business dispute, reducing the value of a person’s life to a dollar figure,” said Moy. “The tireless work of FBI personnel alongside our law enforcement partners in the DEA, the San Diego Police Department, and the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department has held these defendants accountable for this bad business. It is another example of our agencies’ collaborative commitment to public safety and our collective determination to bring criminals to justice.”

The defendants, Salam Razuki (age 53, San Diego, CA), Sylvia Gonzales (age 53, San Diego, CA), and Elizabeth Juarez (age 42, San Diego, CA) were charged with Conspiracy to Kidnap, a felony in violation of 18 U.S.C § 1201(c). The maximum penalty for this offense is life imprisonment. The case was handled by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the San Diego Police Department and the San Diego Sheriff’s Office. The investigation was part of ongoing efforts by the Violent Crime and Human Trafficking Section, which was formed in 2019 and tasked with leading collaborations between federal and local law enforcement in investigations of violent crimes, firearms and gang cases, sex trafficking and child exploitation, civil rights, and labor trafficking.

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