Janette Ramirez, a 34-year-old resident of New Orleans, has admitted guilt to charges of interstate transmission of a ransom demand after orchestrating a plot that terrorized both a kidnapped individual and their loved ones. In her plea before U.S. District Judge Barry W. Ashe last Thursday, Ramirez acknowledged her role in a grim saga of abduction and extortion, as detailed in documents from the court.
The victim found themselves at the mercy of kidnappers, hands and legs bound, under the watch of a gun in Hector Mondragon-Flores's apartment. Their freedom was priced at $7,000, and negotiations for their release took a harrowing turn when the victim's father parted with $3,000 in cash, only for Edwin Salgado-Nunez to be nabbed by the New Orleans Police Department, during the exchange. According to a U.S. Department of Justice statement, as the situation escalated, the ordeal was far from over for the victim.
Following the botched ransom exchange, the unwilling guest was shuffled to Ramirez’s residence. There, a desperate appeal for assistance was staged—with Ramirez translating a call to the victim's girlfriend for more money, only this time, through her very own CashApp, sending forth requests that were, in stark terms, demands for a person's salvation.
Ramirez, now awaiting sentencing, potentially faces two decades in confinement, three years of supervised release following, and a hefty financial burden amounting to a quarter of a million dollars, atop a $100 obligatory special assessment fee. This case, a fragment of the larger Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) initiative, underscores the combined efforts of various law enforcement tiers and serves as a grim reminder of the tireless war against violent crime and gun violence in our communities. As part of the PSN’s rejuvenated strategy declared on May 26, 2021, there's a focused lens on community trust, preemptive measures against violence, strategic enforcements, and the tallying of the outcomes.
Both the Federal Bureau of Investigation and New Orleans Police Department conducted the investigation into these events, with Assistant United States Attorneys David Berman and Sarah Dawkins leading a prosecutorial charge.
