June 26, 2008

Texas man charged in NY with holding immigrants hostage

The Associated Press

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. -- New York prosecutors have filed federal charges against a Texas man accused of holding illegal immigrants hostage in an attic.

John Ernest Guerrero of the Houston suburb of Pearland is charged with kidnapping and unlawfully bringing in and harboring illegal immigrants.

His lawyer has said Guerro - a community college student who worked at his family's Texas landscaping business - was merely visiting his cousin's house in Port Chester, N.Y.

Guerrero was arrested March 29 after two Brazilian men flagged down a police car. They said they'd paid $10,000 to be smuggled from Mexico into Texas. The men said one captor held a wire cutter to a hostage's finger and demanded an extra $2,000.

Guerrero is to appear July 22 in White Plains federal court.

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