COLUMBUS, Ohio — A Columbus woman was sentenced to eight years in prison for trying to kidnap her ex-boyfriend and his girlfriend twice.
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Ohio said Denia Avila recruited seven co-conspirators to help plan and carry out the kidnapping of the couple near their Hilliard home in November 2019.
During the first attempt, two conspirators dressed in black facemasks and approached the victims as they entered their vehicle early in the morning. One of the conspirators used a stun-gun against the man's neck, but the two were able to escape.
In the next attempt a week later, Avila blocked in the victims' vehicle early in the morning again. Two co-conspirators dressed as police officers approached the victims and presented a fake arrest warrant, demanding they exit the vehicle. The victims drove over the curb and escaped.
Detectives found two videos in which Avila and one of the conspirators discussed plans of kidnapping and injuring them using a taser and leg shackles.
In the video, authorities say Avila states she knows the victims would be too scared to go to police because she helped smuggle them into the United States after he got deported, knowing that he was here illegally.
After a federal grand jury indicted Avila, authorities say she conspired with another person to tamper with a witness by having the victim she had paid to have smuggled into the country deported.
Avila pleaded guilty in October 2021 to conspiracy to commit kidnapping.
After she is released from prison, she will have three years under court supervision and have to pay $1,396 in restitution.
Other conspirators in the kidnapping plot already pleaded guilty and have been sentenced.