New Orleans Resident Guilty of Demanding Ransom for Release of Kidnapping Victim

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA -JANETTE RAMIREZ ("RAMIREZ"), age 34, pleaded guilty on September 25, 2025 before U.S. District Judge Barry W. Ashe to interstate transmission of a ransom demand, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 875(a).

According to court documents, the victim was kidnapped by RAMIREZ's co-defendants, Hector Mondragon-Flores and Edwin Salgado-Nunez. They bound the victim's hands and legs together, held him at gunpoint in Mondragon-Flores's apartment, and demanded the payment of a $7,000 ransom from the victim's father for the victim's release. Salgado-Nunez was arrested by New Orleans Police Department officers during a ransom exchange after the victim's father paid Salgado-Nunez's associate $3,000 in cash.

Following Salgado-Nunez's arrest, Mondragon-Flores took the victim to RAMIREZ's apartment. Mondragon-Flores then instructed the victim to facilitate a payment from the victim's girlfriend for the victim's release. RAMIREZ translated a conversation concerning the ransom payment, between the victim and his girlfriend, from English to Spanish for Mondragon-Flores so that he could monitor the conversation. RAMIREZ also agreed to use her CashApp account to receive the ransom payment and sent the victim's girlfriend CashApp payment requests knowing that they would be viewed as a request for ransom for the victim's release.

RAMIREZ faces up to 20 years in prison, up to a $250,000 fine, up to three years of supervised release, and 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. 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 case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the New Orleans Police Department. Assistant United States Attorneys David Berman and Sarah Dawkins of the Violent Crime Unit are in charge of the prosecution.