New Arrest In Horizon City Kidnapping; Trial For Two Suspects Continues

FBI Special Agent In Charge David Cuthberson confirmed to ABC-7 that agents have made another arrest in the abduction of Horizon City resident Sergio Saucedo.

This, after prosecutors in the kidnapping trial for Rafael Vega and Cesar Obregon-Reyes asked the judge to warn jurors not to watch any media reports tonight because of the development in the case.

Vega and Obregon are accused of abducting Saucedo from his house in 2009. Obregon’s cousin, Omar, has also been indicted and faces a separate trial.

The FBI will not identify the person arrested or how the person may be tied to the crime.

They previously identified a fourth suspect in the case, 25-year-old Ricardo Puentes Morales. He is thought to have masterminded the abduction and was featured as one of El Paso’s Most Wanted in late February, though it is unclear whether he is the person who’s been arrested.

Also in court Wednesday, the father of a defendant accused of kidnapping an El Paso man who was later found dead in Mexico was expelled from court after threatening one of the witnesses.

Federal Judge David Briones also admonished the other relatives, saying they would be thrown out if threats are made.

On the stand was Obregon’s cousin, who was given a pseudonym to use during the case, and happens to work at the West Texas Detention Facility. He testified that he was at a party at Obregon’s home after the kidnapping and Obregon was carrying around a tabloid from Juarez.

“He showed me a picture of the guy with his hands cut off,” he testified. “Then he folded it and put it in his back pocket.”

The witness then testified Vega even boasted about the kidnapping and that he heard him yell out “We took out that (expletive)!”

“I don’t know if he was drunk or what,” he testified. “He was yelling it out pretty loud.”

The witness also told the jury how he overheard a phone conversation in which Vega said “We picked him up, and I got $7,000, a Jeep and some cocaine.”

Saucedo’s kidnapping is one of the few cases of Mexican drug cartel violence spilling into the U.S. It happened in broad daylight and was witnessed by a school bus full of children. Saucedo’s body was later found in Juarez with his hands cut off, placed on his chest.

Before resting its case Wednesday, prosecutors played a tape of a conversation recorded secretly by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) between Obregon and Vega as they were being transported in a sheriff’s department van from the county jail to the courthouse. In it, the two discuss how they are going to “get out of the situation.”

The defense began presenting its case Wednesday afternoon.