PHOENIX — Jesus Humberto Barrera Estrada, 20, of Scottsdale, was sentenced to five years in prison on Monday for his involvement in a kidnapping that took place June 4 in southern California, in which a woman was then transported to Arizona.
Corey Webster Newkirk, 22, Tempe, was sentenced on Jan. 14 to 78 months in prison for his involvement in the case, said a release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Phoenix. Gabriel Mario Morales, 20, of Tempe, was sentenced to five years .
All three males previously pleaded guilty to interstate kidnapping.
Beginning on or about May 27, the three males began seeking the victim, and clandestinely surveilled her and her family, who were residing in California.
They drove from Arizona to southern California, where they continued to watch the victim and her family, even tracking one of their vehicles with a GPS device, the U.S. Attorney’s statement said.
The three males ambushed the victim on June 4, physically restrained her inside a vehicle, and drove back to Arizona. A traffic stop in Quartzite led to the victim’s rescue and the arrest of the three males.
The investigation of this case was conducted by the FBI, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and the Quartzsite Police Department. The prosecutor was Assistant U.S. Attorney Christina Covault.