Suspected kidnappers captured
FBI credits Laguna police

By Jim Maniaci
Cibola County Bureau

GRANTS — The Federal Bureau of Investigation in Albuquerque credits the Laguna Pueblo Police Department with the capture of a pair of alleged kidnappers reportedly on a cross-country journey from Arizona to Alabama with a victim they said they would murder.

Agent Bill Elwell, the FBI press officer in Albuquerque, said late Thursday afternoon that the two men should have an arraignment before a federal magistrate in Albuquerque by mid-morning today. The arrest warrants and related information were being relayed from Montgomery, Alabama, Thursday night, he indicated. Meanwhile, they were being held at the regional jail in Albuquerque.

He said he didn't have their names or other identification.

After the FBI issued a request for help in stopping the suspected pair of kidnappers described only as Hispanic men on their cross-country drive in a gray Ford Windstar van, several agencies joined in setting up a massive traffic stop.

Among them were the LPPD, which Elwell said made the actual stop Wednesday night on eastbound I-40 near Mile Post 76.

Elwell said the victim is identified as Lorenzo Perez Lopez, 18, of Guatemala. Elwell said agents found out his captors had threatened to kill Perez Lopez because the ransom price could not be met. The FBI said Perez Lopez was safe.

Initially, the call to the New Mexico FBI office came from the FBI Alabama branch office in Montgomery and Elwell indicated the southern USA agents were able to obtain enough information to alert agents in New Mexico.

The Cibola County traffic stop was the first of several set up all the way through Albuquerque on I-40, Elwell indicated.

Officials of Cibola County Sheriff's Office and Milan Village Police Department said their agencies were not involved. Lt. Juan Jose Martinez of the New Mexico State Police Department confirmed his agency's participation. Elwell said city and county officers in Albuquerque also participated.

— To contact reporter Jim Maniaci in Grants, telephone 285-6184 or (505) 870-7775 (cellular).