Los Angeles Woman Pleads Guilty to Staging Fake Kidnapping, in What Officials Call a Plan for a Lawsuit Against Border Patrol

Federal officials announced on Monday that Yuriana Julia Pelaez Calderón, a Mexican national living in South Los Angeles, has pleaded guilty to staging a fake kidnapping in 2025, falsely claiming she had been abducted by federal agents or people acting on their behalf.

According to the Office of First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bilal A. Essayli for the Central District of California, Calderón, 43, fabricated her disappearance to stir media outrage and build a case for a lawsuit against Border Patrol before going into hiding.

Officials said: "In June and July of 2025, Calderón faked her apprehension by federal agents or surrogates acting on behalf of federal agents." During that period, she repeatedly contacted individuals using anonymous and blocked phone calls to build a fraudulent narrative, according to the attorney's office.

Calderón falsely claimed federal agents had abducted and detained her at multiple locations, officials said. As she staged her release, she also altered her appearance to make it appear as though she had been mistreated in custody.

Court documents show that on June 25, 2025, Calderón falsely told an individual that immigration officials were taking her into custody near a fast-food restaurant and claimed agents had threatened to break her window.

Two days later, Calderón used caller ID blocking to contact a tenants' rights advocate with another false claim, according to officials. She allegedly lied that authorities had taken her to San Ysidro and forced her to sign deportation papers. That same day, she reportedly told another individual that she had been moved to an unknown warehouse, where she was being held with other detainees.

Officials said that, as a result of Calderón's intentional lies, false information was reported to the media and law enforcement that Calderón had been 'kidnapped' by masked men in plain clothes driving an unmarked vehicle, who were acting as federal agents or as surrogates of federal agents.

While Calderón chose to stay hidden in Bakersfield, her false claims prompted community organizers to demand her release, according to officials. Justice Department affidavit material cited surveillance video showing Calderón walking to a parked car and a photo allegedly showing her at a Bakersfield shopping mall while she was reported missing.

On July 3, 2025, Calderón again used caller ID blocking to contact an individual, falsely claiming she would soon be released because of the media coverage, officials said. That same day, she traveled from Bakersfield to Tulare County to stage her release from 'Border Patrol' and approached an individual about serving as a witness in her case, officials said.

Officials said Calderón altered her appearance to make it appear that she had been mistreated while in custody, and a co-conspirator took photographs of her altered appearance. For the next two days, Calderón turned off her phones and refused to return calls when she knew law enforcement was looking for her, according to the attorney's office.

Calderón pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to impede, obstruct, impair and defeat the lawful function of Homeland Security Investigations within federal jurisdiction. She faces a statutory maximum sentence of five years in federal prison.