'El Muñeco' deceives dozens of Americans with virtual kidnappings from his jail in Mexico

Federal prosecutors on Thursday accused a California man jailed in Mexico of running a virtual kidnapping ring with which he tricked at least 30 Americans into paying thousands of dollars in ransom to free family members who were never kidnapped.

Julio Manuel Reyes Zúñiga, 48, arrived in the United States on Wednesday after being extradited by Mexico, where he had been imprisoned since 1996 for two murder convictions.

He served his sentence for the killings earlier this year, but remained in custody pending extradition to the United States to be charged in the extortion case.

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Reyes Zúñiga, who calls himself

, appeared this Thursday before a court in Los Angeles where he was charged with 31 charges, including extortion, conspiracy to extort money, communication of threats from abroad and conspiracy to launder money, according to the Prosecutor's Office. federal.

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The detainee, a member of the Rancho San Pedro street gang, is accused of orchestrating the scam between 2015 and 2018 while he was locked up in the Santa Martha Acatitla prison in Mexico City.

Federal prosecutors detailed that Reyes Zúñiga and his accomplices used smuggling cell phones introduced into the prison to call their victims, informing them that they had kidnapped a loved one and intended to attack them unless they paid a ransom through bank transfers , cash deposited in agreed locations or purchase of electronic devices such as iPads or iPhones.

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Once the victims paid the ransom, their associates in Mexico personally delivered the money to Reyes Zúñiga, according to court documents.

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Most of those scammed, who paid an average of thousands of dollars each, resided in Southern California, including Los Angeles, Orange and Santa Barbara counties, the indictment says.

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If convicted, Reyes Zúñiga could face a 20-year sentence in federal prison for each indictment of the indictment.

With information from NBC News and AP