Mexican National Pleads Guilty in Fake Kidnapping Case Against Border Patrol

Yuriana Julia Pelaez Calderón pleaded guilty on Monday to faking her abduction by federal agents in 2025.

The 43-year-old woman from South Los Angeles agreed to a plea deal for one count of conspiracy. She faces a statutory maximum of five years in federal prison. Her sentencing hearing is set for February 8, 2027.

Federal prosecutors said Calderón staged her disappearance between June and July 2025. She aimed to generate media outrage and create evidence for a lawsuit against U.S. Border Patrol. According to the Office of the First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, she called people using blocked numbers to tell false stories.

Court documents detail the timeline of the deception. On June 25, 2025, Calderón told an acquaintance that immigration officers were taking her into custody near a fast-food restaurant. She claimed agents threatened to break her window. On June 27, she called a tenants' rights advocate, asserting that authorities had taken her to San Ysidro and forced her to sign deportation papers. On that same day, she told another person she was being held in a warehouse with other detainees.

Prosecutors noted that Calderón altered her appearance to look mistreated while in fake custody. A co-conspirator photographed these changes to support her narrative. She hid in Bakersfield while community organizers demanded her release based on the false reports. On July 3, she traveled from Bakersfield to Tulare County to stage her release. She approached an individual to act as a witness for the alleged abduction.

The scheme caused confusion for law enforcement and the media. Reports circulated that masked men in an unmarked vehicle had kidnapped Calderón. For two days after staging her release, she turned off her phones and ignored calls from investigators. She is a citizen of Mexico who was residing in the United States without legal status.

The guilty plea resolves the federal case against her. The government dropped additional charges as part of the agreement. The case involved multiple false statements made to build a legal claim against federal agents.