A Texas man has been sentenced to more than 17 years in prison for his role in the kidnapping of a toddler from Birmingham, Alabama. U.S. District Court Judge Anna M. Manasco handed down a sentence of 210 months in prison and a life term of supervised release to Steven Andrew Holguin, 42, of El Paso, Texas. Holguin pleaded guilty in April to conspiracy to commit kidnapping.
According to court documents, on November 4, 2021, Birmingham Police responded to a report that a three-year-old girl had been abducted from her home. Authorities say Holguin and co-conspirator Elis Salgado-Galindo kidnapped the child with plans to take her to Honduras, where her father lives. With Holguin’s help, Salgado-Galindo took the toddler and left the scene.
An Amber Alert was issued soon after the abduction. Law enforcement agencies along the Alabama/Mississippi state line were notified with descriptions of the suspects and their vehicle. Later that evening, deputies from the Rankin County Sheriff’s Department in Mississippi stopped a car matching the description provided by authorities. Holguin was driving the vehicle at the time.
Deputies removed all occupants from the car and identified the child as the missing toddler using information from the Amber Alert. A photograph sent by deputies was confirmed by the child's mother as her daughter. Both suspects were taken into custody without incident and law enforcement returned the child safely to her family.
Holguin has a prior conviction from 2020 for conspiracy to transport aliens in federal court in Texas, for which he served six months in prison followed by three years of supervised release.
Salgado-Galindo is a Mexican citizen who was unlawfully present in the United States at the time of this crime. He was deported on December 14, 2021 before he could be indicted on federal charges.
The investigation involved Homeland Security Investigations (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 prosecuted this case.
“U.S. District Court Judge Anna M. Manasco sentenced Steven Andrew Holguin, 42, of El Paso, Texas, to 210 months in prison followed by a life term of supervised release,” said U.S. Attorney Prim F. Escalona.
