Federal officials announced Monday that a Mexican national in the United States illegally pleaded guilty to staging a fake kidnapping in 2025 and falsely claiming that federal agents—or people acting for them—had abducted her.
Yuriana Julia Pelaez Calderón, 43, of South Los Angeles, allegedly fabricated her disappearance to generate media outrage and support a potential lawsuit against Border Patrol before hiding, according to the Office of First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bilal A. Essayli for the Central District of California.
“In June and July of 2025, Calderón faked her apprehension by federal agents or surrogates acting on behalf of federal agents,” officials said.
According to prosecutors, Calderón repeatedly used anonymous and blocked phone calls to promote the false account of her disappearance.
Photos allegedly staged to make Yuriana Julia Pelaez Calderon appear to have been detained and mistreated in custody, according to an affidavit. (US Department of Justice)
She falsely reported that federal agents had abducted and held her at several locations. When staging her release, she also changed her appearance to suggest that she had been mistreated while in custody.
Court documents state that on June 25, 2025, Calderón falsely told someone that immigration officials were taking her into custody near a fast-food restaurant and had threatened to break her vehicle’s window.
Two days later, she allegedly called a tenants’ rights advocate with her caller ID blocked and claimed that authorities had taken her to San Ysidro and forced her to sign deportation documents.
Yuriana Julia Pelaez Calderon is seen in surveillance video at a parking lot. (Justice Department)
Later that day, she reportedly told another person that she had been taken to an unidentified warehouse, where she was being held alongside other detainees.
“As a result of Calderón’s intentional lies, false information was reported to the media and law enforcement that Calderón had been ‘kidnapped’ by masked men in plain clothes driving an unmarked vehicle, who were acting as federal agents or as surrogates of federal agents,” officials said.
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Officials said Calderón remained hidden in Bakersfield while her false claims led community organizers to demand her release.
Surveillance video shows Yuriana Julia Pelaez Calderon walking to a parked car, according to an affidavit. (US Department of Justice)
On July 3, 2025, Calderón again allegedly used a blocked number to tell someone that she would soon be released because of the media attention surrounding her case.
That same day, she traveled from Bakersfield to Tulare County to stage her release from “Border Patrol” and asked someone to serve as a witness in her case, according to officials.
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“Calderón also altered her appearance to make it appear that she had been mistreated while in custody. A co-conspirator took photographs of Calderón’s altered appearance,” officials said.
A photo allegedly shows Calderon at a Bakersfield shopping mall while she was reported missing, according to an affidavit. (Justice Department)
Calderón then turned off her phones for two days and ignored calls after learning that law enforcement was searching for her, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.
Calderón pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to impede, obstruct, impair and defeat the lawful function of Homeland Security Investigations within federal jurisdiction.
Her hearing is scheduled for Feb. 8, 2027.
She faces a statutory maximum sentence of five years in federal prison.
