Guatemalan Teen Is Safe After Alleged Kidnapping

A Guatemalan teenager was found safe Sunday morning in Long Beach after immigrant smugglers allegedly kidnapped him, authorities said.

Undercover police arrested Siminano Rojas, 51, at 10:45 a.m. at a Jack in the Box restaurant in Long Beach where he said he would release 17-year-old David Flores in exchange for $1,000, according to Corona Police Sgt. Jerry Rodriguez.

Just after 11 a.m., authorities also arrested Rosa Galdames, 44, and Elmer Rivas, 19, at a Long Beach home where Flores was allegedly kept without food and water since his kidnapping Saturday morning in Corona, Rodriguez said.

The three suspects were booked for investigation of kidnapping and false imprisonment.

The teenager was abducted at a gas station after his aunt, Sandra Orellana of Placentia, was $100 short of the $2,500 she was supposed to pay the smugglers to bring him from Central America to Southern California, police said.

Orellana offered jewelry in place of the money, police said. The smugglers, known as coyotes, took her money, her jewelry and Flores.

“They got forcibly upset and removed the juvenile from her car,” Rodriguez said.

A statewide Amber Alert for Flores was issued Saturday morning.

Flores will be allowed to stay with his aunt in Orange County as long as he cooperates with the police investigation, Rodriguez said.

The two additional men who were part of the kidnapping plot were still at large, authorities said.