The owner of a tire shop on Baldwin Boulevard faces federal charges of kidnapping and fraud, prompting local and federal law enforcement agencies to raid the business on Sept. 29.
Victor Daniel Almaguer-Cantu, the owner of Danny’s Tire Service in Corpus Christi, and co-defendants lured a victim to the Westside business on March 14 by creating a fake Facebook Marketplace post offering $750 to transport tires, according to an unsealed indictment filed in the Southern District of Texas on Sept. 24.
The document alleges that when the victim, identified by the initials “C.O.B.,” visited the shop, Almaguer-Cantu held him against his will, forced him to withdraw money from his bank, stole the money, bought jewelry with his credit card and applied for credit with his identity.
Almaguer-Cantu faces five federal charges: conspiracy to kidnap and aiding and abetting, two counts of wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.
Another defendant, Roberto Luis Saldana, an employee of the tire shop, faces charges of conspiracy to kidnap and aiding and abetting and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
How it happened
The indictment states that C.O.B responded to an ad that he saw on Facebook Marketplace on March 13 from an individual identified as “J.B.,” who asked if he was available to transport tires and provided him with the address to “Danny’s Tire Shop,” where he was to pick up the tires.
When C.O.B. visited the shop, he was escorted into an office, the indictment shows, and two unidentified men entered and locked the door.
Almaguer-Cantu then made a video call to C.O.B. in which he yelled at him and accused him of working for someone who had stolen from him and owed him money.
C.O.B. told Almaguer-Cantu that he was there to respond to an advertisement and did not know what Almaguer-Cantu was talking about.
Almaguer-Cantu instructed the other men in the room to beat up C.O.B., according to the indictment.
In a second video call, the men moved C.O.B. to a different office and repeated the accusations, which the victim denied again.
The indictment shows that Almaguer-Cantu told C.O.B. that the tires in question were stolen, and that he could call the FBI and C.O.B. could go to prison for several years.
Fraudulent cash and credit transactions
The indictment says that Almaguer-Cantu stole the victim’s Social Security number, email accounts and bank account information to open lines of credit with two companies, Acima Credit LLC and Snap Finance, for $2,325 and $3,590, respectively.
Almaguer-Cantu also threatened to harm C.O.B.’s family if the victim closed either of the accounts, the indictment says.
Almaguer-Cantu drove C.O.B. to a Bank of America ATM on Mesquite Street, forcing him to withdraw $2,000, and a Bank of America on South Alameda Street, where he forced the victim to withdraw $4,000, according to the indictment.
That same day, the suspect forced C.O.B. to buy $10,000 in jewelry at Zaman Jewelers at the Corpus Christi Trade Center, the indictment shows.
Arrest warrants are pending.
The Caller-Times’ attempt to reach Danny’s Tire Service by phone was unsuccessful.
This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Corpus Christi tire shop owner arrested on kidnapping and fraud charges
Reporting by Katie Nickas, Corpus Christi Caller Times / Corpus Christi Caller Times
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