2 co-conspirators sentenced to federal prison for mall kidnapping hoax in central Illinois

URBANA, Ill. — The woman at the center of a June 2014 hoax kidnapping from a Champaign, Illinois, mall, and her alleged kidnapper, were sentenced to federal prison Monday.

These sentences were announced by U.S. Attorney Jim Lewis, Central District of Illinois. These sentences resulted from a joint investigation by the following agencies:  Champaign Police Department, FBI’s Springfield and Houston (Texas) Divisions, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and the Champaign County State’s Attorney’s Office.

Monica Adriana Zacatlan-Ramirez, 20, of Urbana, Illinois, was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison; Eduardo Guerrero Cortez, 26, of Mexico, was sentenced to 10 months in federal prison. Both have remained detained in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service since their arrests in July 2014.

In addition, both Zacatlan-Ramirez and Guerrero Cortez were ordered to pay $45,374 restitution to the FBI, the Champaign Police Department, the Champaign Sheriff’s Office and the Champaign County State’s Attorney for the time, resources and expenses each of these agencies spent investigating the hoax kidnapping. 

Zacatlan-Ramirez pleaded guilty Dec. 15, 2014 to conspiring to provide law enforcement with false statements, making false statements to law enforcement, and making false statements to a federal grand jury. On Dec. 19, 2014, Guerrero Cortez pleaded guilty to the conspiracy.

The third defendant, Jarbey Emerson Villalobos, 19, of Champaign, pleaded guilty Feb. 15, 2015. Villalobos is scheduled for sentencing May 29 before U.S. District Judge Colin S. Bruce. He has been in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service since his arrest July 25, 2014.

Zacatlan-Ramirez, Guerrero Cortez and Villalobos admitted they conspired from June 11 through July 16, 2014 to provide law enforcement with false statements regarding the nature of Zacatlan-Ramirez’s kidnapping from Market Place Mall in Champaign. In fact, there was no force, threat or coercion involved in the kidnapping of Zacatlan-Ramirez. She voluntarily consented, agreed and participated in planning the hoax so that her willingness to be with Guerrero Cortez would be concealed from her family members who did not approve of him.

To advance the scheme, prior to the hoax kidnapping, Zacatlan-Ramirez petitioned the circuit court in Champaign for an emergency order of protection against Cortez. After the court granted the order of protection, Zacatlan-Ramirez called Guerrero Cortez and told him to pick her up from the Market Place Mall and make it appear that Cortez took her by force. Guerrero Cortez recruited Villalobos, who was armed with a knife, traveled to the mail with another individual, collected Zacatlan-Ramirez, and put her into their vehicle. Villalobos threatened Zacatlan-Ramirez’s companion and the defendants fled the area. From June 11 to 14, 2014, Zacatlan-Ramirez, Guerrero Cortez and Villalobos traveled from Illinois to Texas.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Elly M. Peirson, Central District of Illinois, prosecuted this case.