Janette Ramirez, a 34-year-old resident of New Orleans, pleaded guilty on September 25, 2025, to interstate transmission of a ransom demand before U.S. District Judge Barry W. Ashe. The charge falls under Title 18, United States Code, Section 875(a).
Court documents reveal that the kidnapping victim was abducted by Ramirez’s co-defendants, Hector Mondragon-Flores and Edwin Salgado-Nunez. The victim was restrained and held at gunpoint in Mondragon-Flores’s apartment while the kidnappers demanded $7,000 from the victim’s father for his release. New Orleans Police Department officers arrested Salgado-Nunez during a ransom exchange after $3,000 in cash was paid by the victim’s father.
After Salgado-Nunez’s arrest, Mondragon-Flores moved the victim to Ramirez’s apartment. There, Mondragon-Flores instructed the victim to arrange payment from his girlfriend for his release. Ramirez translated a conversation between the victim and his girlfriend from English to Spanish so Mondragon-Flores could monitor it. She also agreed to use her CashApp account to receive ransom payments and sent payment requests via CashApp to the girlfriend with knowledge they were being used as ransom demands.
Ramirez faces up to 20 years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000, up to three years of supervised release, and a mandatory special assessment fee of $100.
The case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), which brings together law enforcement agencies and communities with the goal of reducing violent crime and gun violence nationwide. The Department of Justice implemented an updated violent crime reduction strategy for PSN on May 26, 2021.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation and New Orleans Police Department investigated this case. Assistant United States Attorneys David Berman and Sarah Dawkins are prosecuting.
