A 43-year-old Mexican national living illegally in South Los Angeles has pleaded guilty to staging a fake kidnapping in 2025, falsely claiming she had been abducted by federal agents or people acting on their behalf. Federal officials announced the plea on Monday. Prosecutors say Yuriana Julia Pelaez Calderón fabricated the disappearance to stir media outrage and build 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, Calderón repeatedly contacted people using anonymous and blocked phone calls to build a false narrative. «In June and July of 2025, Calderón faked her apprehension by federal agents or surrogates acting on behalf of federal agents,» officials said. Court documents show that on June 25, 2025, she told an individual that immigration officials were taking her into custody near a fast-food restaurant and claimed agents had threatened to break her window.
Two days later, Calderón allegedly contacted a tenants' rights advocate with another false claim, saying authorities had taken her to San Ysidro and forced her to sign deportation papers. The same day, she reportedly told another person she had been moved to an unknown warehouse where she was being held with other detainees. Prosecutors said the claims were false information that was reported to the media and law enforcement, and that she had been «kidnapped» by masked men in plain clothes driving an unmarked vehicle who were acting as federal agents or their surrogates.
The fabrications had real consequences. While Calderón stayed hidden in Bakersfield, officials said her claims prompted community organizers to demand her release. Her case drew wide attention as it was reported as a possible abduction by federal immigration authorities, a charge that prosecutors now say was entirely invented.
Authorities say the hoax moved toward its conclusion in early July. On July 3, 2025, Calderón again used caller ID blocking to contact an individual, falsely claiming she would soon be released because of the media coverage. That same day, she traveled from Bakersfield to Tulare County to stage her release from «Border Patrol» and approached an individual about serving as a witness in her case, officials said.
Investigators also allege she altered her appearance to make it seem she had been mistreated in custody. «Calderón also altered her appearance to make it appear that she had been mistreated while in custody. A co-conspirator took photographs of Calderón's altered appearance,» officials said. For the next two days, she turned off her phones and refused to return calls while she knew law enforcement was looking for her, according to the attorney's office.
Calderón pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to impede, obstruct, impair and defeat the lawful function of Homeland Security Investigations within federal jurisdiction. Her hearing is scheduled for Feb. 8, 2027. The charge carries a statutory maximum sentence of five years in federal prison. A separate report on the case, published by the New York Post, described the plea in federal court and characterized the fabricated ICE kidnapping story as an effort to smear federal officers.