Arraignment is set Friday for an undocumented immigrant who lives in South Los Angeles and is accused of inventing a fake kidnapping by federal immigration agents to generate sympathy and solicit donations.
Yuriana Julia Pelaez Calderon, 41, is charged with conspiracy and making false statements to federal officers, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Court papers say that an attorney representing Calderon’s family held a press conference on June 30 to announce the woman had been kidnapped five days earlier at a Jack in the Box restaurant parking lot in downtown Los Angeles and brought to San Ysidro, where she was presented to a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement staffer and handed voluntary self-deportation paperwork.
The family’s attorney said Calderon had refused to sign t