Man sentenced for role in Chaparral-El Paso-Las Cruces kidnapping

ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico — A 28-year-old southern New Mexico man has been sentenced to over 12 years in prison for a kidnapping conviction stemming from a 2019 armed abduction involving an attempted robbery.

The U.S. Attorney's office said Joshua Neil Bowen of Alto was among five people who pleaded guilty to kidnapping in the case.

Prosecutors said the kidnapping victim was abducted from a travel center in Mescalero and first taken to Chaparral and then to El Paso and finally to Las Cruces.

That's where he was rescued by police after being held at a motel before managing to call his son for help, the U.S. Attorney's office said.

Bowen was sentenced in federal court in Albuquerque. The other four co-defendants await sentencing, authorities said.