Description: Buffalo, New York criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant who was charged with kidnapping.

Augusto Mateo Francisco, 32, of Dunkirk, NY, facilitated the illegal entry of Guatemalan migrants into the United States and helped transport them to the Dunkirk area, where he would provide them with housing and work at area farms. Francisco would charge the migrants for their housing, rides to work, and for other items. He would also take a cut of the wages they earned working at the farms. Francisco threatened two individuals (Victim 1 and Victim 2), telling them that if they stopped working for him or if they did not pay back the money they purportedly owed to him, he would harm their families or would call immigration authorities and have them deported.

In addition, Francisco pursued a sexual relationship with Minor Victim 1, a 16-year-old Guatemalan migrant who had come to the U.S. with her mother. Francisco repeatedly raped Minor Victim 1, threatening to harm her siblings who were still in Guatemala if she told anyone about what had happened. In May 2020, Francisco abducted Minor Victim 1 and took her to a trailer in Ripley, NY, where she was held for nearly two weeks, until being rescued by police. Following her rescue, Minor Victim 1 and her mother fled to Georgia to escape Francisco. However, he followed them and kidnapped Minor Victim 1, bringing her back to the Western District of New York, where he unlawfully held her for several more days, until she was again rescued by police.

Francisco was arraigned before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeremiah J. McCarthy, and is being held pending a detention hearing on December 20, 2023, at 2:30 p.m.

The indictment is the result of by Homeland Security investigations, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Matthew Scarpino and the Chautauqua County Sherriff’s Office, under the direction of Sheriff James Quattrone.

The fact that a defendant has been charged with a crime is merely an accusation and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.


18 U.S. Code § 1201 - Kidnapping, provides:

(a) Whoever unlawfully seizes, confines, inveigles, decoys, kidnaps, abducts, or carries away and holds for ransom or reward or otherwise any person, except in the case of a minor by the parent thereof, when—
(1) the person is willfully transported in interstate or foreign commerce, regardless of whether the person was alive when transported across a State boundary, or the offender travels in interstate or foreign commerce or uses the mail or any means, facility, or instrumentality of interstate or foreign commerce in committing or in furtherance of the commission of the offense;
(2) any such act against the person is done within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States;
(3) any such act against the person is done within the special aircraft jurisdiction of the United States as defined in section 46501 of title 49;
(4) the person is a foreign official, an internationally protected person, or an official guest as those terms are defined in section 1116(b) of this title; or
(5) the person is among those officers and employees described in section 1114 of this title and any such act against the person is done while the person is engaged in, or on account of, the performance of official duties,
shall be punished by imprisonment for any term of years or for life and, if the death of any person results, shall be punished by death or life imprisonment.
(b) With respect to subsection (a)(1), above, the failure to release the victim within twenty-four hours after he shall have been unlawfully seized, confined, inveigled, decoyed, kidnapped, abducted, or carried away shall create a rebuttable presumption that such person has been transported in interstate or foreign commerce. Notwithstanding the preceding sentence, the fact that the presumption under this section has not yet taken effect does not preclude a Federal investigation of a possible violation of this section before the 24-hour period has ended.
(c) If two or more persons conspire to violate this section and one or more of such persons do any overt act to effect the object of the conspiracy, each shall be punished by imprisonment for any term of years or for life.
(d) Whoever attempts to violate subsection (a) shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than twenty years.
(e) If the victim of an offense under subsection (a) is an internationally protected person outside the United States, the United States may exercise jurisdiction over the offense if (1) the victim is a representative, officer, employee, or agent of the United States, (2) an offender is a national of the United States, or (3) an offender is afterwards found in the United States. As used in this subsection, the United States includes all areas under the jurisdiction of the United States including any of the places within the provisions of sections 5 and 7 of this title and section 46501(2) of title 49. For purposes of this subsection, the term “national of the United States” has the meaning prescribed in section 101(a)(22) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(22)).
(f) In the course of enforcement of subsection (a)(4) and any other sections prohibiting a conspiracy or attempt to violate subsection (a)(4), the Attorney General may request assistance from any Federal, State, or local agency, including the Army, Navy, and Air Force, any statute, rule, or regulation to the contrary notwithstanding.
(g) Special Rule for Certain Offenses Involving Children.—
(1) To whom applicable.—If—
(A) the victim of an offense under this section has not attained the age of eighteen years; and
(B) the offender—
(i) has attained such age; and
(ii) is not—
(I) a parent;
(II) a grandparent;
(III) a brother;
(IV) a sister;
(V) an aunt;
(VI) an uncle; or
(VII) an individual having legal custody of the victim;
the sentence under this section for such offense shall include imprisonment for not less than 20 years.
[(2) Repealed. Pub. L. 108–21, title I, § 104(b), Apr. 30, 2003, 117 Stat. 653.]
(h) As used in this section, the term “parent” does not include a person whose parental rights with respect to the victim of an offense under this section have been terminated by a final court order.

Outcome: The fact that a defendant has been charged with a crime is merely an accusation and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.

Plaintiff's Experts:

Defendant's Experts:

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