A woman from El Paso is suspected of kidnapping and keeping for ransom the infant of a migrant woman who had recently crossed the border.
According to a federal criminal complaint, Jenna Leigh Roark, 45, was detained in September on accusations of hostage-taking and aiding and abetting.
According to prosecutors, on September 26, the St. Petersburg Police Department in Florida called the FBI after a Honduran national reported that she had been separated from her infant boy since May and was being extorted in exchange for the child’s safe return. The woman identified as “VICTIM” in the lawsuit resided in Florida at the time, according to authorities.
The unidentified mother allegedly crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in May and contacted a man and a woman in an El Paso apartment complex to seek for directions to the closest Grey Hound bus station. The two then offered to transport the mother, according to the lawsuit.
During the ride, Roark, who identified herself to the mother as “Jane,” reportedly informed the woman that she would be keeping her son. According to the allegation, Roark exchanged contact information with the mother and promised to remain in touch.
The lawsuit stated, “Jane would periodically give the victim photographs and videos of her son, and the victim and her son would chat on the phone two to three times each week.”
The complaint does not clarify why the mother agreed to leave her child with Roark, nor does it provide any other information regarding the alleged abduction.
Prosecutors claim that Roark initially demanded $8,000 from the mother, but eventually reduced the amount to $5,800.
Roark was detained by the Texas Department of Public Safety on September 16 for a separate people smuggling offense. According to the lawsuit, Roark stopped at a motel and picked up three undocumented individuals.
When Roark was arrested, one of her daughters was in the front passenger seat of her car cradling a baby boy whom Roark said was her other daughter’s child. The infant was placed in the custody of Child Protective Services and an investigation was begun, according to the complaint, when Roark’s daughter provided contradictory information regarding the child’s name to authorities.
The Honduran woman later identified the child as her son.
During an interview with Texas DPS, Roark allegedly stated that her husband was in difficulty with the Mexican mafia and that she was scheduled to pick up 29 migrants but only picked up four, according to the complaint. The lawsuit stated that she claimed the infant was sent to her by a man named Richard in Mexico.
The complaint stated, “(The) SON was eventually transported to the United States by an unknown female, and ROARK was supposed to care for the child until payment by the VICTIM was received.”