Sheriff Larry Smith: Kidnapping ‘directly related’ to cartel

SMITH COUNTY — According to our news partner KETK, Smith County Sheriff Larry Smith said a recent kidnapping in Smith County was related to a cartel. Smith said, “The kidnapping we had this last week is directly related to the cartel, no doubt about it, 100% directly related to the cartel. They try to extort money out of a citizen here in Tyler, Smith County who probably was involved with the cartel. He just better thank his Lord that we have the detectives we’ve got here, that we’re able to catch him and work with other agencies to free him when he got to Fort Worth,”

Here is how the kidnapping played out. The Smith County Sheriff’s Office 911 emergency dispatch received a call March 17 at about 4:06 p.m. from a woman claiming two men in a red Honda passenger car had put a gun to her husband’s head and forced him to get in their car before driving away with him. The woman told police two of her husband’s sons followed the Honda car and pulled over at a donut shop on Highway 271. Officials said both sons were told to leave and were shown guns as a threat. During this time, the sons were reportedly told the kidnappers wanted $10,000 ransom to get their father back.

The suspects also allegedly called the victim’s wife demanding money for his return. Investigators were then able to ping the phone number and it reportedly appeared to be heading westbound towards the Dallas area.

The Fort Worth PD was able to locate the red Honda and made contact with the occupants. The victim was reportedly found in the back seat of the car and the suspects were detained and found to be in possession of two guns. Police identified the suspects as Julio Cesar Cordova, the driver, and Walybert Eron Cordova Rascon, a passenger. A vehicle search yielded two guns, drugs, drug paraphernalia and may have been a tracking device.

Cordova and Rascon were charged with aggravated kidnapping for ransom or reward and held a $750,000 bond.