Mexican National Pleads Guilty to Faking Kidnapping to Target Border Patrol
Yuriana Julia Pelaez Calderón admitted to staging her own abduction and altering her appearance to build a case against federal agents.
A Mexican national has pleaded guilty to staging a fake kidnapping in 2025, falsely claiming she had been abducted by federal agents or individuals acting on their behalf. Yuriana Julia Pelaez Calderón, 43, of South Los Angeles, fabricated her disappearance with the intent of generating media outrage and building a case for a lawsuit against Border Patrol before going into hiding, according to the Office of First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bilal A. Essayli for the Central District of California.
Federal officials stated that between June and July of 2025, Calderón faked her apprehension by federal agents or their surrogates. She repeatedly contacted individuals using anonymous phone calls to construct a fraudulent narrative. Court documents reveal that on June 25, 2025, Calderón falsely told an individual that immigration officials were taking her into custody near a fast-food restaurant and claimed agents threatened to break her car window. Two days later, she allegedly lied to a tenants' rights advocate, claiming authorities had taken her to San Ysidro and forced her to sign deportation papers.
On July 3, 2025, Calderón reportedly contacted another individual, falsely claiming she would soon be released due to media attention. That same day, she traveled from Bakersfield to Tulare County to stage her release from "Border Patrol" and sought someone to serve as a witness. Officials said Calderón also altered her appearance to suggest she had been mistreated in custody, with a co-conspirator photographing her altered state.
During the period she was allegedly in hiding, Calderón was seen in surveillance video at a Bakersfield shopping mall, according to an affidavit. For two days following her staged release, Calderón turned off her phones and avoided calls from law enforcement who were searching for her.
Calderón pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to impede, obstruct, impair and defeat the lawful function of Homeland Security Investigations within federal jurisdiction. She faces a statutory maximum sentence of five years in federal prison. Her sentencing hearing is scheduled for February 8, 2027.