Illegal alien sentenced for kidnapping-for-hire plot to collect drug debt

KANSAS CITY, KAN. - A Mexican national was sentenced to 120 months in prison for orchestrating a kidnapping-for-hire plot to collect on a drug debt.

According to court documents, Carlos Niebla-Machado, 51, who was illegally residing in Kansas City, Missouri, pleaded guilty to one count of attempted kidnapping.

In February 2024, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) learned from confidential sources that Niebla-Machado was allegedly selling large amounts of methamphetamine and fentanyl from California in the Kansas City metro area. Niebla-Machado told the KBI sources he wanted to have a person kidnapped who owed him a $300,000 drug debt.

In June 2024, an undercover KBI agent met with Niebla-Machado. Niebla-Machado provided the agent with the victim's full name, age, home address, photographs, and background information. Niebla-Machado said he wanted the victim's fingers cut off and a torch used on the victim's face to coerce the victim to sign over property. Niebla-Machado gave the agent a firearm and a 2004 Dodge Ram truck as down payment for the kidnapping. The agent asked Niebla-Machado if he wanted to be involved in torturing the victim. The defendant said he was too old for that, but he wanted to visit the rural Kansas location where the victim would be held. There, the defendant planned to question the victim about the locations of houses he wanted the victim to sign over.

Investigators contacted the victim and disclosed the kidnapping-for-hire plot. The victim agreed to cooperate and talked about having given Niebla-Machado home furniture, electronics, $20,000 in cash, a Dodge pickup truck, and a tow truck towards an approximate $100,000 debt. The victim said the defendant kept adding interest to the debt.

On July 1, 2024, the undercover agent informed Niebla-Machado that the victim had been kidnapped and was being held captive. The agent picked up Nieblas-Machado in Missouri and drove him to a location in rural Kansas. Once they arrived at the location, KBI agents arrested the defendant.

"Unfortunately, there are people in our country who view violence as a way of life and have no problem inflicting torture," said U.S. Attorney Ryan A. Kriegshauser. "After listening to the gruesome details of the torment Niebla-Machado planned for the kidnapping victim, it's apparent that had he been speaking with a willing violent criminal rather than an undercover agent, this case would have likely ended in tragedy."

The Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Trent Krug and Christopher Oakley prosecuted the case.

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