Families confront San Diego smuggler sentenced in kidnapping, killings

The family members of two victims paid Isaac Jimenez and his co-conspirators thousands of dollars in ransom money after they tried to cross into the U.S. illegally.SAN DIEGO (CN) — The family members of a young woman and a father of four who were kidnapped for ransom and killed by smugglers in Mexico addressed one of the men responsible Friday.U.S. District Judge Janis Sammartino sentenced Isaac Jimenez to 12 years in prison and ordered him to pay $24,500 in restitution for his role in a human smuggling scheme that resulted in the victims being held hostage. Both victims hired human smugglers to transport them illegally to the United States but were instead held captive in Mexico.The father of 20-year-old Vivianna Aguirre described the horror he and his family experienced beginning on the night of Dec. 5, 2024, when his daughter told him through a trembling voice that she had been kidnapped and was being held for ransom.“When I told her I was going to call the police, she begged me desperately not to do that because they had threatened to kill her,” the man, identified as Jose, said through a Spanish interpreter. “It felt as though time had just stopped and I wanted her to tell me it was a joke, but it was real … Nothing that the court does will be able to return my daughter.”In the following days, the father said he received video calls showing his daughter being beaten with firearms pointed at her.Jimenez, 30, had been hired to facilitate Aguirre’s transportation from Tijuana to the U.S. so she could reunite with her boyfriend, who had previously paid Jimenez to smuggle him across the border. Aguirre’s family paid thousands of dollars to her kidnappers, but she was never released.“Nothing can erase the sound of her voice when she was so scared, or the images they made us witness,” Jose said. “But a meaningful penalty can show us that her life mattered and that the suffering caused to our family matters.”Jennifer Martinez, the wife of 30-year-old Carlos Cabrera, said her husband’s disappearance left a hole in their family that could never be filled.“He was deeply loved by so many people,” Martinez told Jimenez through tears. “‘You need to pay the money or they’re going to put a bullet through my head.’ Those words and the fear I heard in his voice have never left.”Cabrera was kidnapped while traveling to Orange County to reunite with his family.“I followed every instruction I was given, hoping, believing if I did everything I would get my husband back,” Martinez said. “All Carlos wanted was to come home to his family. You took that away from him.”Aguirre’s family said they recovered teeth and bone fragments believed to belong to her. Neither family has recovered their loved one’s body.Jimenez, a U.S. citizen from San Diego, turned to face the victims’ families in court and apologized for his role in the scheme.“For a long time I thought I was helping people, and I now realize it was never that way,” he said through a Spanish interpreter. “Because of the decisions and my friendships, they did something terrible to the family, and I will always have to live with that. I regret it.”Jimenez said his role in the smuggling operation was limited. He pleaded guilty in June.“I would have liked to have control over what happened,” he said. “I don’t know what happened to your family members. I don’t know where they are.”His attorney, Douglas Brown, said the smuggling operation had become more dangerous in recent years because of cartel activity. Brown said his client had been threatened with death if he refused to participate. Jimenez eventually turned himself in to authorities.Jimenez had been involved in human smuggling since at least 2015, according to the Department of Justice.Although Jimenez did not personally hold Aguirre or Cabrera hostage, he knew his co-conspirators were holding people against their will as early as September 2024, DOJ attorney Robert Miller told the court. The co-conspirators are believed to have been killed or incarcerated in Mexico.“Smugglers are not benevolent actors,” Miller said. “They are motivated by profit, and they are violent and inhumane.”Sammartino, a George W. Bush appointee, said the killings were the most deliberate and unnecessary loss of life she had seen in a long time.“These family members that are here to address the court made desperate effort to meet the demands asked by the kidnappers and did everything they could, and saw their family members being tortured and abused,” the judge said before imposing the sentence. “You knew the business of smuggling well. You preyed upon the most vulnerable people."Miller told Courthouse News outside the courtroom that extortion in Mexico is likely underreported because of the circumstances victims and their families face. He thanked the families on both sides of the border for cooperating with law enforcement.Subscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads