WASHINGTON D.C. – A former U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration employee and her contractor husband plead guilty to making false statements in kidnapping hoax, federal officials said.
Nydia L. Perez and John A. Soto, both 44, of Haymarket, Virginia, pleaded guilty Friday to one count of making false statements to law enforcement officials, officials said.
On December 2013, Perez, a DEA employee, and her husband, Soto, a private contractor, in the U.S. Embassy in Bogota, Colombia, designed and executed a hoax with the intention of defrauding the U.S. Embassy in Bogota, officials said.
As part of the hoax, Perez and Soto fabricated a plot to kidnap minors who are United States citizens, officials said.
According to court documents, Perez and Soto sent, through electronic mail and courier services, information about a purported threat to the safety of minor United States citizens in Bogotá.
Perez and Soto added detailed descriptions of the targeted United States citizens, including information about their whereabouts and daily routines. Perez and Soto included photographs of the citizens in order to enhance the seriousness of the threat, and attempted to implicate innocent individuals in the kidnapping plot.
Perez and Soto made numerous false representations to law enforcement and security officials about the fake kidnapping plot.
Perez and Soto will be sentenced on Aug. 21, authorities said.