Janette Ramirez, 34, of New Orleans, pleaded guilty on September 25, 2025 before U.S. District Judge Barry W. Ashe to interstate transmission of a ransom demand, a violation of federal law.
Court documents state that the kidnapping involved co-defendants Hector Mondragon-Flores and Edwin Salgado-Nunez. The victim was bound at gunpoint in Mondragon-Flores’s apartment while a $7,000 ransom was demanded from the victim’s father for his release. Salgado-Nunez was arrested by officers from the New Orleans Police Department during a ransom exchange after an associate received $3,000 in cash from the victim’s father.
After Salgado-Nunez’s arrest, Mondragon-Flores moved the victim to Ramirez’s apartment. There, Mondragon-Flores instructed the victim to ask his girlfriend for money for his release. Ramirez translated a conversation about the ransom payment between the victim and his girlfriend from English to Spanish so Mondragon-Flores could monitor it. She also agreed to use her CashApp account to receive the payment and sent requests via CashApp to the victim’s girlfriend knowing they would be understood as ransom demands.
Ramirez faces up to 20 years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000, up to three years of supervised release, and must pay a mandatory special assessment fee of $100.
“This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone,” according to the press release. “On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.”
The Federal Bureau of Investigation and New Orleans Police Department investigated this case. Assistant United States Attorneys David Berman and Sarah Dawkins are prosecuting.
