A gang member ran a three-year virtual kidnapping scheme by smuggled cellphone from inside a Mexican prison
Julio Manuel Reyes Zuniga, a reputed member of the Rancho San Pedro street gang, ran a virtual kidnapping extortion scheme from September 2015 to June 2018 using smuggled cellphones from inside Santa Martha Acatitla Prison near Mexico City, where he was already serving a sentence for two murders. He and associates called families, mostly in Southern California, falsely claiming a loved one had been kidnapped and demanding wire transfers, cash drops or purchased electronics such as iPhones and iPads; contacts in Mexico delivered the proceeds to him in prison. He was charged in a 31-count federal indictment in September 2019, extradited from Mexico to Los Angeles in November 2020 after completing his Mexican sentence, and initially pleaded not guilty. In August 2023 he pleaded guilty to two conspiracy counts, extortion and money laundering, and was sentenced to 40 months in federal prison, credited as time already served.
- Year
- 2023
- Where
- United States, Mexico
- Outcome
- Sentenced
- Victims
- Not stated in the sources
- Schemes
- Virtual kidnapping scams
- Last reviewed
- 2026-10-05
The facts, as recorded
- Julio Manuel Reyes Zuniga, 48 to 51 across the case's timeline, was a reputed member of the Rancho San Pedro street gang from San Pedro, California.
- He had been imprisoned in Mexico since 1996 for two murder convictions and was serving that sentence at Santa Martha Acatitla Prison near Mexico City.
- Using smuggled cellphones, he and co-conspirators ran a virtual kidnapping scheme from September 2015 to June 2018, calling victims, mostly in Southern California, and falsely claiming to be holding a kidnapped relative.
- No kidnappings actually took place; victims were told to pay via wire transfers, cash drops at designated locations, or by purchasing electronics such as iPhones and iPads.
- Individuals in Mexico collected the proceeds and delivered them to Reyes Zuniga inside the prison.
- A federal grand jury indicted him in September 2019 on one count of conspiracy to commit extortion, 27 counts of extortion, two counts of foreign communication of threats with intent to extort, and one count of conspiracy to launder monetary instruments.
- He completed his Mexican murder sentence and was extradited to Los Angeles on November 12, 2020, initially pleading not guilty to all 31 counts.
- On average, each targeted family sent thousands of dollars to the scammers before contacting law enforcement, according to prosecutors.
- In August 2023 he pleaded guilty to two conspiracy counts, extortion and money laundering, and on August 8 to 9, 2023 was sentenced to 40 months in federal prison, credited as time served.
What the record shows
Reyes Zuniga’s case shows that a prison sentence in one country does not stop an extortion scheme aimed at another, if a phone can be smuggled in and people outside are willing to move money. He was already confined for two murders when he and associates began calling families, mostly in Southern California, claiming to hold a kidnapped relative. Payment did not always mean a wire transfer: some victims were told to buy iPhones or iPads and hand them to a contact, which were then delivered, along with cash, to Reyes Zuniga inside the prison.
The gap between the scheme’s end in 2018 and his 2023 sentencing reflects the extradition process: he first had to finish his Mexican sentence before the US could take custody of him in November 2020, nearly five years after the scheme he was indicted over had already stopped.
Why this case matters
This is the clearest documented case of a virtual kidnapping scheme organized entirely from inside a foreign prison, and it shows a payment variant, demanding the purchase of specific electronics rather than cash or a wire, that the other two cases on this page do not include. It also illustrates how slowly these cases move once the organizer is outside the country’s reach: three years from indictment to custody, five years from indictment to sentence.
The caveat
Reyes Zuniga pleaded guilty to two conspiracy counts and was sentenced, so that part of the record is a proven legal outcome. The original 31-count indictment included many additional extortion and threat counts that were not part of the final guilty plea; this page does not claim he was convicted on all 31 counts, only the two he pleaded to. No specific dollar total or exact victim count is given in the sources available, only that families paid “thousands of dollars” on average; this page does not invent a total figure.
Sources
- Reputed gangster faces charges of making 'virtual kidnapping' extortion calls while imprisoned for murder in Mexico. NBC Los Angeles. Accessed 2026-10-05. Supports: Reyes Zuniga's age, gang affiliation, extradition in November 2020, the scheme run from Santa Martha Acatitla Prison, the September 2015 to June 2018 period, the payment methods (wires, cash drops, electronics), the 31-count indictment, and the maximum 20-year exposure.
- San Pedro man sentenced to time served in 'virtual kidnapping' extortion scam. Patch (City News Service). Accessed 2026-10-05. Supports: The August 2023 guilty plea to two conspiracy counts, the August 8 to 9, 2023 sentencing to 40 months time served, the full 31-count original indictment breakdown, and the 'thousands of dollars' per-family average.
- San Pedro man sentenced to time served in 'virtual kidnapping' extortion scam. Audacy / KNX News (City News Service). Accessed 2026-10-05. Supports: Independent confirmation of the 40-month time-served sentence, the two guilty-plea conspiracy counts, and the September 2015 to June 2018 scheme period.