An Albuquerque man, Jose Ramirez, was sentenced on Apr. 1 to life in prison plus 60 months after being convicted by a federal jury on kidnapping charges related to a 2018 abduction. Ramirez had been on the run from law enforcement for nearly seven years before his arrest.
The case highlights the severity of violent crimes and the consequences faced by repeat offenders. The court imposed the lengthy sentence due to Ramirez's extensive criminal history and the calculated nature of his actions.
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Ramirez orchestrated a kidnapping-for-ransom plot just weeks after being released from prison for a felony firearm conviction. While under supervision and wearing a GPS ankle monitor, he targeted his former employer—a business owner who had previously fired him for theft. On July 25, 2018, Ramirez recruited co-defendants in Albuquerque to help execute what he described as retaliation against his ex-boss.
In the early hours of July 26, after stealing a vehicle and disabling tracking devices, Ramirez and his accomplices ambushed their victim outside his home in Placitas. The victim was restrained with a chokehold, threatened with a knife, beaten with a pistol, robbed of cash and checks, then taken to an abandoned shed in Albuquerque where he was held captive for about fifteen hours. During this time, additional beatings occurred while ransom calls were made demanding $9,600 from the victim’s daughter.
Despite attempts at secrecy—such as discarding phones—Ramirez used his personal cell phone during ransom negotiations that investigators later traced. The plan failed when necessary banking information was not provided for an international wire transfer; only $600 was obtained before abandoning further attempts. That evening the victim was released and sought help at a nearby gas station.
Afterward, Ramirez attempted further fraud using stolen checks but ultimately fled New Mexico for California where he lived under aliases until captured by authorities nearly seven years later. On December 12, 2025, he was convicted on multiple charges including conspiracy to kidnap and carjack as well as extortion and firearms offenses.
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan Ellison said that due to "more than thirty years of criminal conduct" by Ramirez—and given "the particularly violent and calculated nature of the crime"—the government requested life imprisonment plus sixty years without parole in federal prison.
The FBI’s Albuquerque Field Office led the investigation with support from local law enforcement agencies.
