Human remains found in 45 bags match the bodies of eight missing call center workers, including a 23-year-old American man, who were abducted by cartel accomplices in Mexico
- The Jalisco state attorney general’s office confirmed Tuesday that the remains of eight missing call center employees were in 45 recovered bags.
- Among the victims are Carlos Valladolid, 23, who was born in Arizona, and his sister, Itzel Valladolid, 27, who was born in Mexico.
- US and Mexican officials have said the call center was operated by members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel
Eight workers, including an American man, have been pronounced dead after a forensic team analyzed human remains found in 45 bags dumped in western Mexico, the Jalisco attorney general’s office said.
The victims, including 23-year-old Carlos Valladolid, were abducted from two call centers in the Jalisco municipality of Zapopan between May 20 and 22.
The clandestine call center was operated by alleged members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. Officials in the United States and Mexico have confirmed it targeted Canadians and Americans as part of a timeshare scam.
The workers were reported missing by their families after they failed to return to work after their shift.
The remains were found on May 31 at the bottom of a ravine between the Zapopan neighborhoods of Mirador Escondido and Potrero de La Coronilla.
Carlos Valladolid is one of eight workers pronounced dead on Tuesday. Arizona, 23, his sister and colleagues went missing between May 20 and 22 in Zapopan, a city in the western state of Jalisco.
The remains of eight call center employees were found on May 31 at the bottom of a ravine between the Zapopan neighborhoods of Mirador Escondido and Potrero de La Coronilla.
Carlos Valladolid; his sister, Mexican citizen Itzel Valladolid, 27; Arthur Robles, 30; Carlos Garcia, 31; Jorge Moreno, 28; Juan Estrada, 30; and Jesús Salazar, 37, all worked at a call center in the Zapopan neighborhood of Jardines Vallarta.
Mayra Velázquez, 29, was located in a call center less than a mile away in the La Estancia neighborhood. She was investigated for fraud in 2016.
Carlos Valladolid moved to Mexico eight months ago to live in the family home in the municipality of El Arenal.
He and his sister traveled together to the call center on the morning of May 22 and never returned to their hometown. They were reported missing by their mother, Elizabeth Hernández.
The workers were likely targeted by the Jalisco New Generation Cartel because they planned to quit their jobs, according to a US official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
“The best guess is that these kids decided they wanted to leave the company,” the US official said.
They added that the criminal organization “sent a message to other defectors” and that “it looks like this has happened before.”
Itzel Valladolid and her brother, Arizona native Carlos Valladolid, reportedly worked for a call center targeting the elderly from the United States and Canada selling and renting timeshares. Their call center was operated by the Jalisco New Generation Cartel
A helicopter retrieves bags filled with human remains from the bottom of a canyon in Mexico’s western state of Jalisco on May 31.
In April, the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned six members and associates of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, including senior leader Eduardo Pardo, for running a similar scam in the Pacific beach resort of Puerto Vallarta, also in Jalisco.
The FBI revealed in March that by 2022, the transnational cartel had defrauded about 600 individuals out of $39.6 million by fraudulently selling or renting their time shares.
Scammers contacted their victims via email to inform them that they had a potential buyer. The victims were instructed to pay taxes or other fees in order for the transaction to go through. The deals would then be canceled once the money was paid.
According to Brian E. Nelson, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, most of the victims were elderly people who lost their lives.