BEAUMONT — A 21-year-old Mexican national living in Liberty, Texas, has been indicted by a federal grand jury on Wednesday and charged with kidnapping.
Juan Carlos Saucedo-Meza allegedly kidnapped a woman in Liberty on August 24, 2018.
Saucedo-Meza then drove the woman through Jefferson County to Lake Charles, Louisiana.
The woman was sexually assaulted somewhere in between before reaching Lake Charles.
The Lake Charles Police Department received a call just before 2:00 a.m. from a woman claiming to have been kidnapped and pleading for help.
That's when officers arrived to the Valero Gas Station on Highway 14 in Lake Charles and located the woman.
They found the suspect in the back parking lot of the store and arrested him.
In connection with this incident, Saucedo-Meza is facing charges of aggravated sexual assault and aggravated kidnapping in Jefferson County, Texas; aggravated kidnapping in Liberty County, Texas; and 2nd degree kidnapping in Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana.
If convicted, Saucedo faces up to life in federal prison.
This case is being investigated by the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, the Liberty County Sheriff’s Office, the Lake Charles Police Department, and the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher T. Tortorice.