LA Woman Pleads Guilty to Staging Fake ICE Kidnapping Hoax
An illegal immigrant from Mexico fabricated a kidnapping story to smear federal officers and potentially solicit funds.
A Los Angeles resident has pleaded guilty in federal court to orchestrating a fake kidnapping scheme intended to falsely accuse Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers and create negative publicity.
Yuriana Julia Pelaez Calderón, 43, admitted to staging the event on June 25, 2025, where she claimed bounty hunters abducted her at gunpoint outside a fast-food restaurant and attempted to force her to self-deport. She subsequently informed another individual that "immigration" had taken her, alleging that officials had "turned the lights on" and threatened her.
Two days later, Calderón contacted a tenants' rights group member, again using a blocked caller ID, and falsely stated she had been taken to San Ysidro by "authorities" and pressured to sign voluntary removal documents. She also told a third person she was held in an unknown warehouse with other detainees.
Following these claims, Calderón's family and attorneys held a press conference, which generated false media coverage. Despite being aware of the ongoing false narrative, Calderón remained silent, reportedly altered her appearance to suggest mistreatment, and turned off her phone from July 3 to July 5, the period she claimed to be missing.
"Dangerous rhetoric that ICE agents are ‘kidnapping’ illegal immigrants is being recklessly peddled by politicians and echoed in the media to inflame the public and discredit our courageous federal agents," United States Attorney Bill Essayli stated previously.
Calderón was eventually located on July 5 in a shopping plaza parking lot in Bakersfield. She continued to assert that she had been kidnapped, even after being found. A GoFundMe campaign was created for her but has since been deleted.
On Monday, Calderón pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to impede, obstruct, impair, and defeat the lawful function of Homeland Security Investigations. She faces up to five years in federal prison, with her sentencing hearing scheduled for February 8, 2027.