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2 get life for ransom, kidnap

Two human traffickers were sentenced to life in prison on Friday for holding a Brazilian woman and her son ransom in a Costa Mesa motel room in 2005.

Reynaldo Eid, 49, of New York, and Alaor Oliveira Jr., 55, of Connecticut, were found guilty of two counts of kidnapping and ransom this year.

In November 2005, two illegal immigrants from Brazil, 24-year-old Ana and her 5-year-old son, Iago, were dropped off at a Costa Mesa gas station where they met Eid and Oliveira. The Brazilians had already traveled thousands of miles from smuggler to smuggler through South America, into Mexico and San Diego, and eventually to Costa Mesa. When the men picked up the smuggled immigrants, they took them to a Travelodge motel on Newport Boulevard. They contacted Ana’s husband in Florida, Jefferson, and demanded an extra $14,000.

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If Jefferson didn’t pay, the men said, Ana and Iago would be taken to New York to work off their debt. Jefferson instead called a friend in Orange County and asked him to help fix the situation, but he was rebuffed when he tried to talk to Eid and Oliveira. Prosecutors said the men slammed the door in his face and started threatening the Brazilians.

Jefferson’s friend then called police, and Eid and Oliveira were arrested as they tried to escape with their victims.

The Brazilian family is in Florida and possibly working with immigration to try to remain in the country, said District Attorney spokeswoman Farrah Emami.


Reporter JOSEPH SERNA may be reached at (714) 966-4619 or at [email protected].

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