Day Laborer Lied About Being Kidnapped

RANCHO CUCAMONGA -- A day laborer who reported he had been handcuffed, kidnapped and taken to Mexico made up the story, sheriff's officials said today.

San Bernardino County sheriff's deputies had been looking for Jose Feliz Gutierrez since May 9 after the man called his sister, saying he and two other men had been kidnapped and driven to Tijuana, Mexico.
Gutierrez said they were abducted from the corner of Arrow Highway and Grove Avenue.

Detectives, who eventually spoke to Gutierrez by phone, determined the man left willingly. He told sheriff's deputies he was scared to stand at the corner to look for work because of recent events, including a car crash that claimed the life of a fellow day laborer.

Deputies said Gutierrez was receiving psychiatric counseling and taking medication in Mexico.

the sob sisters here in SoCal made a great big deal out of this at the time

Indeed, they did. Here's a background article:

Laborers Seek Police Aid
Advocates urge investigation of day workers' kidnapping
May 16, 2007

RANCHO CUCAMONGA -- Day-laborer activists on Wednesday called on authorities to conduct a full investigation into the alleged kidnapping of three workers last week near the Grove Avenue and Arrow Route intersection.

Advocates for the day laborers said three people were approached and offered employment on May 9, before they were taken to the Ontario Convention Center, where they were joined by three other day laborers.

According to day-laborer organizers, the six workers were tied up and driven to Tijuana, where they were abandoned.

The sister of one of the victims reported the crime last week to Upland police, San Bernardino County sheriff's Detective Jesse Venegas said.

Detectives at the sheriff's Rancho Cucamonga station recently took over the case because the incident happened in the city.

The men were taken to Tijuana and dropped there, Venegas said. Detectives are working to identify the victims and the suspects.

About 15 day laborers and their supporters gathered Wednesday evening to call for an in-depth investigation into the incident.

Pablo Alvarado, National Day Laborer Center in Los Angeles director, said he had been in contact with a sister of one of the victims.

She is angry, Alvarado said, but is concerned for her and her brother's safety. Alvarado said authorities have to assure illegal immigrants who have been crime victims that "immigration status will be irrelevant."

Venegas said law-enforcement officials cannot take immigration status into account when someone has been the victim of a crime.

"This is a criminal matter. This is something I intend to follow to the very end," he said.

A press conference on Wednesday in front of Rancho Cucamonga City Hall came less than two weeks after a day laborer was killed by a car that lost control and veered into a crowd of workers near Grove and Arrow. Rancho Cucamonga resident Jose Fernando Pedraza, 57, considered a leader of the workers, died on May 5.

The corner of Grove and Arrow historically has been a site for day laborers to seek work. Last June, a day-laborer center that had been operating there closed but workers continued to seek employment from the sidewalks.

The situation has spawned numerous protests from groups such as the Minuteman Project - which calls on the city to cite employers who pick up workers there - and day laborers, who along with their advocates call for the return of an established center.

News of the alleged kidnapping had been circulating via e-mail the past week by immigrant-rights groups that initially blamed members of the Minuteman Project.

Robin Hvidston, a Minuteman Project rally organizer, said the group supports the humane treatment of all day laborers and there is no proof that the Minuteman Project was involved in any way.

"Day laborers have the right to stand on (the) public sidewalk," Hvidston said. "We have no business to get them off the sidewalk and to cause any harm to the day laborers - that's a horrifying thought."

She said allegations the Minuteman Project was involved have since been removed in e-mails and Web sites.

Mike Nava, a day-laborer activist, said workers previously have been taken to job sites and later abandoned in faraway places but never as far as Tijuana.

"This is not new by any means. What's new is that they took them to the Mexico border," Nava said. "These guys are so determined to get rid of undocumented people, they took them to Tijuana."

Alvarado and other speakers said the laborers would not be exposed to such threats if Rancho Cucamonga had an established day laborer center.

Gilberto Ruiz, a day laborer at the conference, identified a victim as Jose Felix Gutierrez. Gutierrez told his sister that he was picked up by a white man and a Latino.

"He called his sister, Veronica, from Tijuana and told her that they had kidnapped him," Ruiz said.

"He told her that they drove up to him and offered him $15 an hour. These people took him to a location by the Ontario Civic Center where they changed cars. In that car there was three other Latinos, and all of them were then taken to Tijuana," Ruiz said.

Ruiz said day laborers have been discussing the incident since it happened.

"We're all just waiting to see who did this," Ruiz said.

Investigators are still trying to identify the other victims and are seek the public's help.

Anyone with information is asked to call Venegas at (909) 477-2800.

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