A San Antonio woman has been sentenced to 40 years in federal prison for her role in a conspiracy to take an undocumented immigrant hostage and hold her for ransom.

Jailene Marisol Reyes, 28, called a man in August 2024 to tell him that his fiancée was being held at her house and would be sold to other people if he did not pay her a $6,000 ransom, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas.

In January, Reyes pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit hostage taking, after being arrested in June of last year by troopers with the Texas Department of Public Safety while she was en route with the hostage to meet the man, according to federal officials.

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The San Marcos Police Department had traced Reyes’s phone number using the man’s phone. When she was arrested she had a stolen handgun in her vehicle, according to federal officials.

Reyes told investigators that the hostage had been brought to her from Eagle Pass.

During the sentencing hearing, the woman who was taken hostage testified that she was “told by the organization that she would be sold or sex trafficked” if her fiancée did not pay the ransom, according to federal officials.

Federal officials say Reyes worked for Spencer Garnett Demps, who was arrested in December 2024 and is awaiting trial.

Another defendant has been sentenced in the case, and two others are awaiting sentencing:

In May, Jonathan Andre West was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison. He was accused of robbing the man whose fiancée was taken hostage at gunpoint, in an earlier meeting before the fiancée was freed.

In February, Mario Barrientos Jr. pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit hostage taking, and Nicholas Sagini Nyaosi pleaded guilty to one county of conspiracy to harbor illegal aliens. They are awaiting sentencing.

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This article originally published at San Antonio woman gets 40-year sentence for role in hostage-taking scheme.