Felix Becerra Herrera, Cross-Border Kidnapping, Mexico 2016

A Mexican national who orchestrated a brutal cross-border kidnapping targeting a U.S. citizen in Mexico has been slammed with a 24-year federal prison sentence. Felix Becerra Herrera, 35, of Mexico, was sentenced to 288 months by United States District Judge Darrin P. Gayles in Miami.

Herrera pled guilty on September 20, 2016, to one count of hostage taking and one count of using a firearm during a violent felony. The charges stem from a violent assault in Veracruz, Mexico, in December 2012, where Herrera and armed accomplices opened fire on a vehicle carrying two naturalized U.S. citizens. The driver was seriously wounded in the shooting.

After the gunfire, Herrera and his crew abducted one of the passengers, holding her captive for nearly a week while demanding ransom. The victim was eventually released, but the psychological scars of the ordeal remain. Herrera fled Mexico and illegally entered the United States, vanishing into the shadows—until the FBI got a tip.

In May 2016, agents from the FBI’s Miami Field Office arrested Herrera at his workplace in Odessa, Texas. His capture marked the end of a years-long manhunt. “The FBI arrested Felix Becerra Herrera at his place of work in Odessa, TX, in May 2016 after receiving a tip as to his whereabouts,” said Xanthie C. Mangum, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of FBI Miami.

“International borders do not shield foreign based kidnappers and violent offenders from U.S. prosecution,” declared U.S. Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer, Southern District of Florida. “The U.S. Attorney’s Office and our law enforcement partners will utilize the long-arm of our American legal system to seek justice on our soil for these egregious offenses.”

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Adam Fels. Court documents confirm Herrera’s role in the armed assault and prolonged captivity of an American citizen abroad. Related records are available via the Southern District of Florida’s public docket at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.