Three men allegedly sent by the cartel to kidnap Tyler in front of his family

TYLER, Texas (KLTV) – Three men have been arrested in connection with the kidnapping of a Tyler man who they say owes $80,000 to a cartel in Juarez. One of the suspects owns a restaurant at Tyler Pounds Airport, the document alleges, and has crossed the border several times to allegedly deliver drugs for a drug ring that has attracted the attention of federal agencies. Through an open request to the 114th District Court, KLTV obtained a probable cause affidavit regarding one of the suspects. It contains details of the allegations against all three.

On March 17, a red Honda HRV pulled up in the driveway of a home at FM 2015 in Tyler as a couple and their two sons were about to leave for a family reunion. Two men got out, allegedly put a gun to the father’s head and forced him into the car.

The man’s sons followed the Honda until it stopped at a convenience store on Highway 271. The suspects got out, showed a gun and warned the sons not to follow them, affidavits said. The men allegedly said they needed to send $10,000 if they wanted their father back, and a short time later the family received a call from the victim’s phone demanding money.

Authorities requested a cellphone number to find out the suspects were heading west toward Dallas. When detectives interviewed the sons, they described the driver, later identified as 48-year-old Julio Cesar Cordova, as thin with a close-cropped beard, wearing a hat, long-sleeved shirt and an orange-brown vest, armed with a silver revolver. The passenger, Walibert Eron Cordova-Rascon, 39, was fully clothed, wearing dark glasses with yellow tints and a black hoodie with rolled-up sleeves that exposed his tattooed arms. They claimed Cordova-Rascon had a black handgun.

The suspects continued to call the victim’s wife, the affidavit says, talking to him on the loudspeaker in the car. The wife told them she didn’t have $10,000, so they adjusted the demand to $5,000 and then to “whatever she could raise,” according to the document.

When a cell phone ping showed the suspects stopped at a gas station in Fort Worth, local police identified the vehicle and pulled it over. The affidavit states that officers found the victim in the back seat and detained the suspects, towing the vehicle to the police station for further investigation. Police said the car was registered as a rental, and a search turned up two handguns matching the previous description, along with drugs and an apparent tracking device.

A notebook containing the victim’s name, address, family information and a note about “11 Birds” and “80K” was also found in the vehicle, the affidavit said. Detectives noted that “birds” is a common term used to refer to the weight in kilograms of drugs, so the ledger appeared to say the victim owed someone 11kg of a particular drug and $80,000.

Detectives discovered text conversations on the victim’s phone with an unknown Mexican number about being owed a certain amount of money, the affidavit said, as well as textual evidence of drug buys and sales. The victim still claimed he didn’t know the two men when they showed up at his driveway and said he got into the car because they threatened to shoot his family if he didn’t. He said that after he was abducted, Valibert Cordova-Rascon sat in the back seat next to him and used meth while they were driving.

Julio Cordova allegedly denied abducting the victim when detectives spoke with him, and Valibert Cordova-Rascon said the two, who are cousins, had traveled from Colorado to Houston for his job. The Smith County Sheriff’s Office said Julio Cordova lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Valibert Cordova-Rascon is from Strasburg, Colorado. When detectives asked to search their phones, they declined to say more.

Both were arrested and booked into the Smith County Jail on March 18 on charges of kidnapping for ransom. The charges show Julio Cordova’s bail was set at $750,000 and Valibert Cordova-Rascon’s bond was set at $450,000. Walibert posted bail on April 15 after further talking with detectives.

In the interview, the affidavit said he described the events of the abduction in detail, beginning with how he was told to target the victim. Valibert Cordova-Rascon allegedly said the information came from the La Linea cartel, based in Juarez, Mexico, to which the victim was in debt. Cordova-Rascon said he was given a contact in Tyler that could lead him to the victim.

That contact went by the fake name “Glezias,” the affidavit said, and the cousins met him at a gas station on Loop 323 in Tyler the day of the abduction. Glezias led them to the victim’s home, stopping in his gray SUV and pointing at the house, affidavits said. According to Cordova-Rascon, he drove off when the red Honda turned into the driveway.

La Linea claims the victim kept a large sum of money after working with another cartel, Cordova-Rascon allegedly told. He claimed that conditions were met during phone calls in the car, and a “due date for repayment” was set.

Next, detectives turned their attention to the identification of “Glezias,” who the victim knew but did not have a real name for, the affidavit said. The document describes him as tall, extremely thin, with a face that is “sunk as if he’s on drugs” and one eye that “flips to the side if he looks at you.”

Using the victim’s phone records, authorities said they found Glezias’ number and pulled details of a phone recorder active from Jan. 31 to March 29, showing locations in the area of Cambridge Road and Townhouse Drive in Tyler, as well as numerous visits to Regional Airport Tyler Pounds.

Detectives contacted neighbors in the identified area who identified him as matching 41-year-old Brandon Marquette Jeffrey. Arrest affidavits say neighbors said Jeffrey had been renting there for about 1.5 years and owned the Mile High restaurant from Tyler Pounds. Authorities said they found surveillance video from two Walmarts in Tyler that showed Jeffrey driving a gray vehicle described by Cordova-Rascon.

During the investigation, detectives said they found records of a 2018 robbery in which Jeffrey admitted to taking four kilograms of cocaine at the border, as well as evidence of seven border crossings between 2020 and 2023. His phone records showed contacts with several people who were under investigation for drug or firearms trafficking, according to affidavits, including persons of interest in drug conspiracy cases from several local, state and federal agencies across the United States. of the states

In addition, authorities said over the phone that they found photos of an undercover Smith County Sheriff’s Office detective with the text, “This is the taker.”

A warrant was issued for Jeffrey’s arrest on October 23, and he was booked into the Smith County Jail on October 24. He is charged with aggravated kidnapping with bail set at $750,000.

Julio Cordova and Valibert Cordova-Rascon were indicted on June 20 and have a plea deal hearing scheduled for Nov. 6 before Judge Taylor Guiton.

KLTV contacted its lawyers. One said he had no comment at this time, while the other had yet to respond. The court said that no official letter has yet been received on Jeffrey.