DOJ: California woman faked ICE kidnapping
Family members and attorneys held a press conference on June 30, where they said Calderon was brought to San Ysidro, a district of San Diego close to the Mexican border. Her family alleged that she was then, 'presented to [a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement] staffer' and, 'presented with voluntary self–deportation paperwork,' according to officials. The family's attorney said Calderon refused to sign the paperwork, and was then 'punished' by being held in a warehouse, a report from the US Attorney's Office, Central District of California detailed.
Footage of the press conference show supporters of Calderon holding signs saying, 'our mom is missing,' 'stop the abduction,' and 'where is Yuli?' Following attention from the media, the family then created a GoFundMe page – which has since been deleted – where they asked for $4,500. Now, The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has stepped in to vehemently deny claims that the immigrant mother was abducted.
The DHS launched an investigation into the 'kidnapping,' during which they spent days looking for Calderon and even had ICE agents searching 'detention cell to detention cell,' officials said. Ultimately, agents said they found Calderon in a shopping plaza parking lot in Bakersfield on July 5. She allegedly continued to insist that she had been kidnapped and held 'with others'. Pictured: Yuriana Julia Pelaez Calderon.
'Yuriana Julia Pelaez Calderon was never arrested or kidnapped by ICE or bounty hunters — this criminal illegal alien scammed innocent Americans for money and diverted limited DHS resources from removing the worst of the worst from Los Angeles communities,' the DHS said. 'Calderon will now face justice and the media and politicians who swallowed and pushed this garbage should be embarrassed,' the agency added. US Attorney Bill Essayli also released a statement on the matter, saying: 'Dangerous rhetoric that ICE agents are "kidnapping" illegal immigrants is being recklessly peddled by politicians and echoed in the media to inflame the public and discredit our courageous federal agents.'
Calderon now faces a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison if convicted for each charge. The DOJ indicated that additional individuals involved could also face charges. According to a statement provided by GoFundMe to KTLA , the organizers of the campaign will not have access to the $80 their page raised in donations.
'GoFundMe has zero tolerance for the misuse of our platform, or any attempt to exploit the generosity of others, and cooperates with law enforcement investigations of those accused of wrongdoing,' the statement read. 'This fundraiser was removed from the platform and the $80 raised was refunded; at no point did the organizer have access to any of the funds.' The Daily Mail has reached out to DHS and ICE, as well as Calderon's family and attorney for comment.
Calderon's kidnapping claims come at a contentious time for migrants in the US, as President Donald Trump continues to ramp up his tough-on-immigration policies. Recent ICE raids have seen mass deportations, and the White House claims that Trump has deported more than 100,000 illegal migrants since returning to office in January 2025. Last Thursday, a raid of a cannabis farm in Camarillo - a city in Southern California - saw 200 migrant workers being detained.
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She has dedicated herself to stopping any child going through what she did. Jessyca was eight years old when unmarried Oliver, then 34, came into her life. He was a neighbour in the small town of Altoona, Wisconsin, where she lived with her mother Monica and stepfather Jake. Oliver worked as a teaching assistant at her school and was the father of one of her classmates, Ryan. 'Oliver would invite me, my brothers and all the neighbourhood kids to his house to play football,' she says. 'Almost immediately, he started grooming me, first by making me sit on his lap.' He would make up a reason why Jessyca was in trouble and would tell her to go and stand in his kitchen, while everyone was still outside. 'In the kitchen, he'd touch my breasts and bottom, and get me to touch him. If I did it wrong, he'd punch me,' she says. Over the coming months, the abuse in the kitchen escalated to forced oral sex and rape. 'I was eight, so I had no idea what he was doing to me,' explains Jessyca. 'He said if I told anyone, he'd kill my brothers and the rest of my family. I was so young that I totally believed him.' In the summer of 1993, after two years of abuse, Jessyca's family moved 100 miles across state because her stepfather had a new job. 'I was so relieved, because I thought the abuse would stop,' she says. But Oliver was determined not to lose his grip on his young victim, so he began renting a trailer with Ryan close to her father's home – her parents had split when she was four and her father lived around 100 miles from Jessyca's new home. 'I stayed with my dad every weekend, and couldn't believe it the first time I visited and saw Oliver. His trailer was right across the road. I felt sick knowing he was so determined not to let me go.' Oliver, still working as a teacher's aide, found a new way to be alone with Jessyca, in order to continue abusing her. 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They left early in the morning, and Jessyca fell asleep, but when she woke up and discovered she was restrained, she realised there was no meeting – she'd been kidnapped. Oliver used the journey to ensure she memorised their cover story. 'He told me he was my father 'Dave Johnson', and I was his daughter 'Cindy', and we were moving to start over our lives after my brother and mother had died in a car accident.' Oliver repeatedly told her what he'd do to her and her family if she tried to alert anyone to the kidnapping. 'We stopped on a bridge to take a break,' remembers Jessyca. 'He threw a rock over the bridge and told me that what happened to the rock would happen to my lifeless body if I said anything to anyone or tried to get away from him.' After a nine-hour drive, they arrived at Kansas City airport in Missouri, where Oliver forced Jessyca on to a plane to Houston at knifepoint. 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'I speak about what I went through to educate people about the signs of abuse, so it can be stopped early and perpetrators can be caught. "I simply won't let Oliver win. I want to devote my life to preventing another little boy or girl from going through the hell that I did.' 6
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