Rodriguez Rojas was sentenced to 13 years for aiding a hostage-taking conspiracy.

A sentence after a guilty plea is the judgment on the count that was admitted. It is not a new charge, and it is not a trial verdict. Julio Cesar Rodriguez Rojas, 30, of Tucson, was sentenced to 13 years in prison after pleading guilty to aiding and abetting a conspiracy to take hostages, in a sentence reported Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026. Senior U.S. District Judge Raner C. Collins imposed that term.

The case account, as FOX 10 Phoenix reported it from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Arizona, starts with an April 2022 tip to Homeland Security Investigations from New York. Cousins were held for a $16,000 ransom after crossing the border. Six people were abducted in the desert by armed men, held for multiple days in a room with the door screwed shut at night, and had their phones confiscated. Those facts are the narrative behind the plea.

Two co-conspirators were previously sentenced on their own judgments. Olegario Lares-De La Rosa received 18 years. Ivan Heriberto Borboa-Ruiz received 14 years. Both are from Mexico. Those terms are not Rodriguez Rojas's 13 years. Undercover agents met Borboa-Ruiz in Tucson for a money exchange. He was armed with a 9mm that Rodriguez Rojas had given him. The ransom was paid, and Borboa-Ruiz was arrested. Lares-De La Rosa fled at high speed, threw a pistol, and was arrested after a backyard chase. Rodriguez Rojas fled and was arrested in 2023. The flight and the 2023 arrest are how he came into court. The judgment is the 13-year sentence after the plea to aiding and abetting the hostage-taking conspiracy.