Mexican drug cartel members convicted of kidnapping South Carolina man

By Harriet McLeod

(Reuters) - A federal jury has convicted two men connected to a Mexican drug cartel for the armed kidnapping of a South Carolina man whose father owed the cartel money, a U.S. prosecutor said on Monday.

Ruben Ceja-Rangel, 58, and Juan Fuentes-Morales, 27, were convicted in federal court in Columbia, South Carolina, on Friday of conspiracy, kidnapping, hostage taking, brandishing firearms and lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Attorney Bill Nettles said.

Each faces up to 32 years on the firearms charges and up to life on the kidnapping and hostage charges. A third suspect, Luis Castro-Villeda, was sentenced to 30 years on similar charges in July, authorities said.

The 23-year-old victim has not been publicly identified by authorities.

Ceja-Rangel drove to South Carolina from his home in Groveland, Florida, to plan the elaborate kidnapping, Nettles said.

On July 9, 2014, the two posed as law enforcement officers, attaching blue lights to a plain car to trick the victim into pulling over, according to the FBI.

They forced him from his truck in St. Matthews, South Carolina, and drove him to North Carolina, the FBI said.

They held the man blindfolded and at gunpoint in two North Carolina residences. He was rescued by an FBI SWAT team on July 15, 2014, at a home in Roseboro, Nettles said.

Evidence presented during the trial showed that the victim's father owed money to Mexican drug traffickers after he had failed to sell more than 200 pounds (90 kg) of marijuana, Nettles said.

Jurors heard phone calls recorded by federal hostage negotiators in which the drug traffickers in Mexico threatened to gouge out the victim's eyes and kill him if the father did not pay a ransom, he said.

A U.S. District judge will sentence the two men at a hearing after the government presents a pre-sentencing report, Nettles said.

(Reporting by Harriet McLeod in Charleston, South Carolina; Editing by Eric Beech)