3 charged in St. Paul cartel-related kidnapping

Three people have been charged in connection with a kidnapping in St. Paul earlier this week.

• Kendra Sue Johnson, 39, faces two counts of kidnapping.
• Richar Sanchez Mujica, 30, faces two counts of kidnapping.
• Erling Soren Holdahl, 48, faces two counts of kidnapping, one count of first-degree drug possession and one count of illegal firearm possession.

As previously reported, three people were arrested Tuesday in connection with an alleged kidnapping.

According to court documents, a source contacted police in December, saying that Mujica was involved in drug trafficking. His phone pinged near the 700 block of Payne Avenue between 7:45 p.m. Monday to 6 a.m. on Tuesday.

Tuesday morning, a cooperating defendant working with a Mexican drug cartel told police that someone in the organization was told to torture and kill a man who owed them money. A contact in Mexico told the informant to meet with Mujica and bring chains and weights.

Officers saw Mujica get into a minivan on Tuesday morning and followed it to a location in Minneapolis. There, Mujica got out, opened the sliding door and manipulated something in the driver’s seat for a while. A man then got into the minivan and the two drove to St. Paul, with officers following.

Mujica was later stopped and arrested for an outstanding warrant. Court documents state he had a bag of suspected methamphetamine in his pocket and a stolen 9mm handgun was found in the area where Mujica had been manipulating something in the van.

In an interview with police, he said the cartel doesn’t let him handle drugs. He said he owes his bosses in Mexico 10 pounds and now does collections, adding that he gets texts for collections.

Court documents state that police found the destination on the 700 block of Payne Avenue on his phone. Mujica told police he was sent there to collect a drug debt.

Also on his phone, police found photos of a man who appeared to be chained or handcuffed — the photos had been sent to a Mexican number on WhatsApp. Mujica denied taking the photos and said someone must have taken them while he was asleep. Officers also found a voice clip of Mujica speaking about a man being tied up to a pillar with chains and handcuffs.

Mujica said he was given two pills and didn’t know what happened, adding that he owed his bosses $6,000 and was being forced to work. He told police that the didn’t know who grabbed the man in the basement of the home.

When asked if he thought harm or death would come to the man in the basement, Mujica said, “Yeah, probably.”

On Tuesday afternoon, officers breached a door at the shop on the 700 block of Payne Avenue and made announcements for everyone to come out. Holdahl, Johnson and the victim came out of the building.

According to court documents, the victim was shoeless, had trouble walking and was in a lot of pain. He had a handcuff still attached to one of his wrists and his hand was very swollen. His bottom teeth were also loose due to being assaulted.

Holdahl and Johnson, the latter of whom had a bag of methamphetamine in her possession.

The victim told police he had a pending drug case in Hennepin County and that his friend said he knew a lawyer who would help. The man was told to go to the store on Payne Avenue to get help with his case.

Inside the store, the victim was told to walk down a hallway and found a man pointing a rifle or shotgun at him. A second man hit him in the head with a heavy object and a third man repeatedly hit and kicked him.

The men took the victim to the basement, handcuffed him and tied him to a post. The victim was periodically hit and kicked over the next few hours but said he blacked out and didn’t remember anything else, court documents state.

When he woke up, there was an orange blanket on him, and Johnson came over and made small talk and gave him water. They then smoked methamphetamine together.

Johnson was going to look for a handcuff key when Holdahl came downstairs, hit and broke the handcuffs, and told the victim to come outside with them. The SWAT team then came into the building.

The victim had no idea who the people were who beat and kidnapped him. He denied stealing from them, being an informant or owing them money.

In a vehicle registered to Holdahl, officers found bags of suspected methamphetamine, a bag of mushrooms, a vial of testosterone, a gunbox containing two magazines that held four rounds of ammunition, and containers of various other kinds of drugs.

Johnson denied knowing the victim or anyone else in the building and said she had been sleeping in the building for around half an hour before SWAT arrived. She also denied being part of the kidnapping or seeing handcuffs on the victim.

Court documents state that in an interview with police, Holdahl said he had been dealing with a guy from Mexico on WhatsApp, and he found himself in the middle of something and didn’t know what happened.

The man from Mexico sent drugs to the store on Payne Avenue and Holdahl had been selling the drugs to get him out of financial trouble. He added that he owes the man from Mexico $10,000 and that it was being used against him and that he was being forced into things he didn’t want to be involved in.

Holdahl told police that six men came in a minivan and brought the victim to the shop basement. One of them chained a door closed and told him not to go inside.

Holdahl later found the victim chained up in the basement. He told police he wasn’t sure if they would kill the victim or not, but wanted to believe it was just a show and that they would let him go after beating him up.

Holdahl said he didn’t call the police because he was scared the man in Mexico would kill him. He later added that he knew he should have released the victim or called the police but didn’t. He said he believed the victim owed money and was brought to the shop to send a message to Holdahl about the money he owed.

Holdahl was able to identify one of the men who brought the victim to the basement — Mujica.