By Shereen Siewert | Wausau Pilot & Review
A warrant has been issued for the arrest of a 39-year-old Florida man accused of kidnapping a man in Abbotsford this month, court records show.
Police say the alleged victim in early 2021 came to the U.S. with the assistance of migrant smugglers. Once he was across the border he was taken to Kissimmee, Fla. and put to work in order to pay off a large debt he owed to the alleged smugglers for transporting him across the border, according to court records. Witnesses told police the alleged victim, who is not named in the criminal complaint, worked in construction with most of his wages withheld by the smugglers, forcing him to skip meals due to lack of income. In December, the man became desperate for help and managed to contact a family member in Wisconsin who drove to Florida and picked him up a few blocks from the man’s work site. Then, they drove back to the Abbotsford area.
After the man escaped Florida, investigators say, he began receiving threatening text messages from his “employer,” identified by police as Abasita Engracia-Gonzalez, who said she would find him and make him pay back his debt. Gonzalez also allegedly contacted the man’s mother in Mexico and told her she “would be getting her son returned in pieces,” police say.
Then in June, Abastia’s husband, Felipe Engracia-Gonzalez, drove from Kissimmee to Wisconsin in his Cadillac Escalade, found the man at his workplace in Abbotsford, then forced him into the vehicle and drove back to Florida, police say. The alleged victim’s phone was found in the median of Hwy. 29.
Relatives contacted police on June 10, one day after the man disappeared.
Police say the alleged smugglers let the man call his family after arriving back in Florida to tell them he was being held there to work off a debt of more than $11,000. Investigators traced the number to an apartment in Kissimmee, where local police discovered the Escalade and the alleged victim.
Felipe Engracia-Gonzalez now faces felony kidnapping charges filed June 10 in Marathon County Circuit Court.
Colby-Abbotsford officers worked with the Marathon County Sheriff’s Department as well as the FBI and a human trafficking agency in Milwaukee as the investigation unfolded.
According to the United Nations, migrant smuggling is a lucrative crime that uses men, women and children for profit. The criminals behind this highly profitable business seize the opportunity created by the need to escape not just poverty and lack of employment opportunities but also natural disaster, conflict or persecution.
Smugglers sell illegal and dangerous services to desperate people and are often part of a well-organized, multinational network. Violence, abuse and the risk of exploitation are widespread traits of this crime, UN officials say. Many migrants who are tricked into smuggling scenarios die of thirst in deserts, perish at sea, or suffocate in containers while others are held in deplorable conditions and forced to work off debt, sometimes for years.
The immigration status of the alleged victim is unclear.
On June 10, Circuit Judge Greg Strasser authorized a body-only warrant for Felipe Engracia-Gonzalez, who is being held without bond in the Osceola County Jail pending extradition to Wisconsin. A date for his initial appearance has not yet been set.
