Woman pleads guilty for role in border kidnapping of Texans

(5/15/07 - LAREDO, TX) - A Mexican national living in the United States pleaded guilty Monday to conspiring to kidnap two U.S. citizens held captive for one day last year before a $20,000 ransom was paid.

Maria Christina Rodriguez, 31, will be sentenced later this year. She remains in federal custody, said Nancy Herrera, executive assistant U.S. attorney for the southern district of Texas.

A phone message left with Rodriguez's attorneys was not returned Monday.

The victims were taken by at least four black-clad gunmen July 16 in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, the violence-plagued border city where the captives had gone to attend a wedding.

Rodriguez worked at a Laredo restaurant with one of the victims and tipped off the kidnappers in Mexico about their whereabouts, officials said. She was paid $2,500 for helping the kidnappers, authorities said.

Mexican authorities arrested four men who admitted to the kidnapping about two weeks after it took place. They have not yet been tried.

abc13.com: Woman pleads guilty for role in border kidnapping of Texans