A Mexican national living in East Texas will spend 30 years in federal prison for abduction and rape.
This week, U.S. District Judge Marcia A. Crone sentenced 22-year-old Juan Carlos Saucedo Meza to more than 30 years for the kidnapping and rape of a woman from Liberty, Texas. Prosecutors revealed the man is a Mexican national, however, his immigration status is unclear.
According to information released by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, on August 24, 2018, Saucedo kidnapped a woman and took her to Lake Charles, Louisiana. Saucedo stopped and raped the woman. The victim managed to escape during a stop in Lake Charles where she gained access to a cell phone and ran into a bathroom. The woman locked herself in and called 911.
After a three-day trial in April, a federal jury found that Saucedo guilty of the federal charges. During sentencing, the judge gave a stiffer sentence after learning that Saucedo tried to get the victim to drop the charges. Prosecutors presented a recorded conversation between Saucedo and his ex-wife, where he asked her to offer the victim a truck and an undisclosed amount of cash.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the victim provided an impact statement where she said: “the time of imprisonment that you receive will never be enough for the harm that you have caused me, but it brings a sort of comfort to know that you are no longer free.”