The kidnapper was tall on the hill above Los Angeles, pressing his gun against Juan’s belly and handing him the phone after FaceTime called.
Juan testified at a preliminary hearing in Los Angeles County Tuesday without revealing his last name, saying he recognized his neighbor’s face on screen last February morning.
Juan said he considered his neighbor, friend Francisco Javier Perez. What he didn’t know was that his neighbors lived a secret life. Perez, a senior drug trafficker with a connection to the Mexican drug cartel, wrote in court documents.
Prosecutors alleged that Juan was kidnapped, stabbed, shot and pushed away the cliff after Perez ordered him to be killed. But Perez allegedly hired the job, allowing Juan to escape and testify that it should be his last moment.
Perez’s attorney Jennifer Gitlin said she had no evidence that her client had a connection with the cartel. He pleaded not guilty to the charges of attempted murder, kidnapping, robbery, drug trafficking and conspiracy to murder.
Authorities say the case against Perez is accused of orchestrating the abduction of Tijuana, a rare example.
“I’ve been doing this for a while,” High Court Judge Hayden Zacky said at the end of the hearing on Wednesday. “I haven’t seen a case like this yet. It’s very high-level, cartel-like behavior.”
Juan testified that he was blamed for losing a large amount of drugs. But he didn’t reach a deal Perez. In his speech, he was not even involved in the drug dealing at all. It begins with ordinary favor.
Prosecutors said Francisco Perez, Juan Bernal and Ramon Terriquez kidnapped a man who had been kidnapped for losing a large amount of drugs.
(Eric Thayer / Times)
Juan introduced Perez to a friend who runs the business department of car paperwork and smoke checks. Perez wants his Honda Accord to register and certify smoke. While working in the car, Juan’s friend found a duffel bag full of drugs and panicked. He gave up on Honda on the roadside and made an anonymous call to the police.
The call initiated a series of events: the rendezvous on the Home Depot with Mask and Gloves. Kidnapped at the gas station in Silma. Then on the hill, the moment Juan faces his neighbors.
“He told me I was going to die,” Juan recalled.
**
Juan walked into the fourth floor court in San Fernando with a crutchwood and carefully settled in the witness stand. He testified in Spanish that he was installing fiber optic cables on the morning of February 21, 2024 when he stopped to buy some Tamarus at Sylmar.
He pulled the Ford Edge SUV to a gas station on Roxford Street. As he waited for the tamales, the two approached from either side. A man stabbed the gun into his stomach. If he runs, they warn Juan that they will kill him on the spot.
Surveillance footage played by prosecutors showed a silver SUV and black sedan entering the gas station, stopping Juan’s Ford. “They look like a special forces,” Zaki said in his ruling.
The two forced Juan into the back seat of his car. In court, Juan identified the one behind the wheel as 34-year-old Tijuana resident Juan Bernal. He pleaded not guilty to the charges of kidnapping, robbery, attempted murder and conspiracy to murder.
As Bernal drove up the mountain, Juan testified that the man in the back seat defeated him and threatened to kill him. A man stabbed a gun in his stomach. He said another man took Juan’s knife and stabbed him in the leg.
Bernal stopped at the horse ranch. Silver SUVs and black sedans followed them. He heard these people talking about digging holes. The trunk of the SUV is opened. Juan said he saw the shovel and pickup.
One of the men took Juan’s knife. He cut Juan’s palm and glued the blade under his nails. Juan said the people told him that they were going to “bury” him.
Juan said at that moment, a passing motorist bragged about the horn. These people were frightened and returned to the car. The man on Juan’s right threw a knife on his cheek as they drove into the hill. He still has scars.
The three-car caravan stopped on the turnout. Bernal handed the phone to Juan. He testified that it was Perez.
**
A prosecutor asked Juan to identify Perez in court. He hesitated for a moment before pointing the court at a man with tired face.
“Barba Blanca,” he said. Whitebeard.
Juan knew Perez, a chunky man with dark hair and beard dragging “paco” along his chest.
Perez, 62, lives in a door to Juan in Bell Gardens. Juan said Perez separated from time between the city in southeast Los Angeles County and Tijuana, where his wife lives.
If Perez is part of the drug cartel, he keeps a low profile as prosecutors allegedly seeking to raise bail. At least in Bell Gardens, he lives in a dilapidated apartment building. He drove the Honda Accord and Chevrolet Silverado.
But representatives from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department believe Perez is the main drug trafficker. An attorney testified that he detained Perez in Bell Gardens in 2022 and searched his car and grabbed a duffel bag containing 13 kilograms of methylphenol and 10,000 fake fentanyl pills. It is not clear why he was not charged with drugs at the time.
Juan testified that he had no idea his neighbor was involved in the drug deal. He said Perez was kind to him and once borrowed money when he was not short of it.
Juan said they were kind to each other but not too much socializing. From time to time they have one Carne Asada. Perez attended the Juan family’s party “maybe once or twice”.
Juan introduces Perez to his friend Walter. Juan testified that he did not know Walter’s last name. Walter’s business is using DMV to register cars and certify smoke checks.
Walter agreed to handle paperwork for the Perez agreement. After getting the vehicle, he called Juan and panicked about finding drugs. “I told Walter, ‘Let the car be taken away by the police.’ “Don’t get involved in any issues. ‘”
The Whittier Police Department received an anonymous call reminding them of drugs inside Santa Springs Road, where the detectives testified. The officer stared at the Silver Honda Accord. There are two large Ziploc bags on the front seats. There is a duffel bag on the floor. They seem to be full of methamphetamine. The officer seized the car.
Juan called the neighbor and transferred what Walter said. Perez said angrily that Juan owed him money. If he didn’t pay, Juan recalled that he warned, “I won’t last two, three days.”
According to Juan, Perez said he was not only going to kill him. He testified that Perez’s wife called and threatened his daughter. “They said they were going to cut her into pieces and I wanted to eat her,” he recalled.
**
Juan said on the hill that Perez gave orders to other men in the car through FaceTime: “Kill him. Let his wife and daughter kill them.”
Bernal begins the road again. Juan fought for his life. He wrestled with the man, holding a gun. The man on the left grabbed him and Juan bit his hand. The man with the gun shot Juan backwards and shot twice in the abdomen.
“I’m exhausted,” Juan testified. “I said, ‘I won’t fight anymore. I’m going to pretend to be dead.'” He closed his eyes and tried not to breathe.
They stopped. Juan heard these people talking about putting the car on fire. One of them said they should shoot Juan in the head. “Stay.” “F-I’m dead.”
These men leaned Ford into the ravine with Juan inside. It rolls down the cliff and rests among the bushes. Juan crawled out and pulled himself to Xiaotu Hunga Canyon Road.
He testified that he had a broken gut, blood clot in his lungs and three gunshot wounds over the next 17 days and during the surgery. He said his left foot was permanently injured and his walking was still painful.
Los Angeles Police Department detectives issued a wanted vehicle alert to Black Volkswagen Passat used in the kidnapping. They learned that U.S. Border Patrol agents stopped their cars on Highway 5 in San Clemente at 9:45 a.m. when Juan was kidnapped.
Three men are in it: Bernal, Ramon Terriquez and Alejandro Medina. They told the agents that they were Mexican nationals of the United States and agreed to be deported immediately. LAPD’s Robbery – Guillermo de la Riva of the Mosed branch testified.
Agents checked Terriquez’s phone call before sending the man to Mexico. Delarivar said it contains photos taken at a commercial warehouse the night before the kidnapping. The detective obtained surveillance video from the store. The video shows Terriquez buying gloves and a hooded mask used by the painter. According to the video, Bernal and Perez also Depot at Home.
De La Riva arrested 30-year-old Terriquez and Bernal in July 2024. Perez has been detained.
Terriquez claims to the police that he had just driven abducted Volkswagen. Terriquez said he thought they were going to kidnap Juan instead of killing him, Delariva testified.
Bernal also denied the plot to kill Juan. He said someone had issued a $70,000 “contract” to charge $200,000 for $200,000, and Juan owed an unknown party.
After two days of testimony, Perez, Bernal and Terriquez asked the judge to dismiss the allegations for lack of evidence. Terriquez’s lawyer pleaded not guilty, noting that his client was not in the car where Juan was stabbed and shot. “At the most, Mr. Terriquez played a passive role in this kidnapping plot,” lawyer Joel Garcia told Zacky.
agent. Atti. Jacques Garden said there were signs that the plan had been a murder. They bought the mask but didn’t wear it, the garden said, “because they knew Juan wouldn’t come back, nor would he be a witness.”
There are also tools in the SUV. The garden said, “You wouldn’t bring a shovel to the kidnapping.”
Zacky agreed to rule that there was sufficient evidence to put the defendants at trial on charges of kidnapping, robbery, attempted murder and conspiracy to murder.
