Mother and son duo arrested in Clovis teen kidnapping plot

A 41-year-old woman and her son were arrested Friday in connection with the brutal February kidnapping of a 13-year-old Clovis girl, who was placed in the trunk of a car, stripped naked and beaten.

Sandra Garcia was arrested early Friday morning in Hanford after a call was placed to police reporting a suspicious vehicle. Garcia was in the car with her son Mark Roque, 18. Both had arrest warrants that were issued Wednesday, Fresno County Sheriff’’s Office spokesman Tony Botti said.

Garcia and Roque were each booked on three felony charges: conspiring to commit a kidnapping for financial gain; torture; and making threats to kill the victim.

If convicted on the conspiracy or torture charges, they face possible life sentences, Assistant District Attorney Steve Wright said.

The Sheriff’s Office said Garcia orchestrated the February kidnapping of the 13-year-old girl so that Garcia could reunite with the girl’s father, Garcia’s ex-boyfriend. The plan was to make the girl so frightened that the girl and her sister would choose to leave the United States and live with their mother in Sweden.

Botti said the kidnappers drove the girl to near Tollhouse, where “they beat her up a little bit and threatened her. She walked to a nearby resident’s home and got them to call 911.”

Garcia, Roque and Garcia’s cousin Miguel Carriedo, 40, were initially arrested Feb. 27 but were released several days later after the district attorney didn’t file any charges.

Garcia and Roque are being held in Fresno County Jail with bail set at $470,000 apiece. Carriedo is a San Francisco resident and has a warrant for his arrest in connection to the kidnapping.

“Our detectives continued to work the case,” Botti said. Investigators had surveillance video of the silver 1990s Mercedes-Benz sedan that was tied to Carriedo and matched the vehicle description given by the victim.

According to court documents made public this week, Garcia wanted to stay in her ex-boyfriend’s northeast Clovis home at all costs. After Garcia’s ex-boyfriend requested she move out, she devised numerous plots to allow her to stay, which included asking her ex-boyfriend’s father for assistance, making claims of domestic violence to get an emergency protective order and get the man kicked out of his own home and, ultimately, the kidnapping.

While four men were described in the victim’s account as having participated, Botti said that the department has only been able to identify Carriedo and Roque as male suspects.

In the court documents, investigators say Carriedo had recorded many of his phone calls – including one eight days before the kidnapping where Garcia mentions the kidnapping plot.

“I want them to be so scared that they don’t want to be here and they would rather go home with their mom,” Garcia said, according to the court documents.

“You’re a crazy dude,” Carriedo said. Carriedo then told Garcia if they were going to continue to talk like this, she needed to use a phone app that could help them communicate securely. A search of Garcia’s phone showed she installed an app two days before the kidnapping that gave her an alternate phone number.

During Garcia’s recorded call with Carriedo, she asked, “How many corrupted people do you know, like really corrupted? I want someone to scare … these girls.”

This story was originally published June 24, 2016 at 6:08 PM with the headline "Mother and son duo arrested in Clovis teen kidnapping plot."