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Documented on the original SlaveryMap (2008–2016). We don’t have a verifiable source on file yet. Know one?
What happened
Albaro Estrada Dominguez and Mario-Beltran Torres are facing charges of conspiracy to commit hostage taking. Following their arrest, 14 people were discovered inside Needville home, according to ICE. All were held against their will. Thirteen were from Guatemala and one was from El Salvador. Dominguez and Torres are two of five suspects believed to be involved in this operation. In this case, investigators say the undocumented immigrants were being held for ransom. Investigators say the suspects had guns and threatened to kill those they were allegedly holding against their will. It's not surprising neighbors were not suspicious. "They didn't let the people they were detaining there mingle around outside," said Chief Craig Brady with the Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office. "They'd bring them in under the cover of darkness, keep them inside the house, so no one knew they were there." Investigators say the coyotes contacted their loved ones and were attempting to extort more money than they'd already paid, in exchange for their safe release. Chief Brady explained, "The initial charge was supposed to have been $1,000, and they were wanting an additional $2,500."
Response and intervention
In all five have been arrested, including Albaro Estrada Dominguez, Mario-Beltran Torres, Miguel Ramirez Rangel, 41, and Eustorgio Penaloza-Lopez, 33. Hostage taking or kidnapping charges have been filed or are pending against each in state and federal court. Dominguez and Torres were to go before a Houston judge on Oct. 11. Federal agents only had cause to raid a home on Paloma Lane near Whitetail Crossing after a woman who was being held against her will escaped. Investigators say the human smuggling operation had been running through the house for at least two years. At the end of a rural road near Needville sits a single story house surrounded by a gate with a padlock. Fort Bend Sheriff's deputies and immigration agents raided the home in October 2011 finding inside 14 people who authorities say had been brought into the country illegally. No aftercare was reported.