A Texas man has admitted guilt in a case involving the conspiracy to kidnap a toddler, according to an announcement by U.S. Attorney Prim F. Escalona. Steven Andrew Holguin, aged 42 from El Paso, Texas, was found guilty of conspiracy to commit kidnapping by U.S. District Court Judge Anna M. Manasco.
The plea agreement details an incident from November 4, 2021, when Birmingham Police Department officers responded to a report of a three-year-old female being kidnapped from her home in Birmingham. Holguin and his accomplice, Elis Salgado-Galindo, allegedly intended to take the child to her father in Mexico. Salgado-Galindo took the child with Holguin's help and fled the scene.
An Amber Alert was issued immediately following the incident. Law enforcement along the Alabama/Mississippi state line were alerted with descriptions of the vehicle involved, as well as details about the toddler and suspects. Later that evening, deputies from the Rankin County Sheriff's Department in Mississippi stopped a vehicle matching these descriptions. Holguin was driving and complied with deputies' instructions to exit his vehicle. The toddler and other occupants were also removed from the car.
A deputy recognized the child from the Amber Alert and sent her photo to a detective at Birmingham Police Department for confirmation with her mother. Both Holguin and Salgado-Galindo were subsequently detained.
Holguin had previously been convicted in 2020 for conspiracy to transport aliens in Texas federal court, receiving a sentence of six months imprisonment followed by three years supervised release.
Salgado-Galindo was identified as unlawfully present in the United States and was handed over to ICE custody on December 14, 2021.
The investigation involved multiple agencies including Homeland Security Investigations in Birmingham, Birmingham Police Department, Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, Pearl Mississippi Police Department, and Rankin County Mississippi Sheriff’s Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney R. Leann White led the prosecution.
