The last of four men accused in the bizarre Lakewood abduction of a 27-year-old man was arrested on Tuesday, prosecutors say.
Marco Cota-Tamaura was taken into custody in Denver, according to the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office. The 36-year-old is being held without bond at Denver’s downtown jail, records show. The abduction last month spanned the Denver area and lasted five days.
The FBI had described Cota-Tamaura as armed and dangerous and as having ties to Texas, Nevada and Mexico. Three other men — Raymundo Maldonado-Salgado, Jonatan Maldonado-Salgado and Hernando Aguilar-Banuelos — already have been arrested in connection with the Aug. 30 kidnapping.
FBI's Rocky Mountain Safe Streets Task Force looking for suspected kidnapper. Reward $5,000! Tips 720.913.7867 pic.twitter.com/7PCTB6mjNj
— FBI Denver (@FBIDenver) September 7, 2016
The abduction began at a Lakewood adult shop, investigators say, where a group of masked gunman confronted the victim before forcing him into a car and driving off.
At one point, a $200,000 ransom — less than half the amount the kidnappers originally demanded — was stashed in a black trash bag along Interstate 70 east of Denver, investigators said Wednesday, but the kidnappers couldn’t find it.
Frustrated, investigators say, the suspects eventually settled on retrieving the money outside the victim’s family’s ranch in Commerce City, releasing their victim mostly unscathed and escaping with the money. Authorities were able to track the suspects down using cellphone records, surveillance and DNA from evidence found at the initial abduction site.
The kidnapping, which spanned the Denver area, prompted the response of more than 100 local and federal law enforcement officers, including the FBI.
While investigators have said they are still probing what motivated the kidnapping, officials said it seemed to stem from a family feud over the horse-breeding industry. Lakewood police say that is a “universal theme” with those involved, but did not elaborate.
Aguilar, Raymundo Maldonado-Salgado and Jonatan Maldonado-Salgado were being held at the Jefferson County jail as of Wednesday afternoon, according to the county sheriff’s office records.
All four men accused in the case have been charged in Jefferson County with 19 counts, including first-degree kidnapping, robbery, extortion, assault and theft.
