CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW)- Jordan Perez of Lockhart, Texas, was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison on Wednesday in Charlottesville, according to a Department of Justice release.
The case was prosecuted in the Western District of Virginia due to the arrest of Perez and fellow Texan Ricardo Franco Ordaz in connection with a 2023 shootout in the Belmont neighborhood of Charlottesville.
On Jan. 8, 2023, Charlottesville Police responded to a reported shooting at the 400 block of Monticello Road. There, they found two adult males suffering from gunshot wounds, one was brought to UVA Health to be treated, but the other was pronounced dead the scene. Multiple individuals were detained in the investigation.
Franco Ordaz and Perez were both arrested in 2024 on charges of conspiracy to kidnap, kidnapping, conspiracy to transport an alien resulting in death, transporting an alien resulting in death, and conspiracy to receive money in connection with a kidnapping. Franco Ordaz was sentenced in January of 2026 to 18 years in prison.
Perez pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to kidnap and one count of transporting an alien resulting in death.
The Belmont shootout, according to the court, brought to light a trafficking ring based at the US-Mexico border. Franco Ordaz and Perez would transport immigrants from the border to a “stash house” in Austin and held them against their will, subsequently extorting money from families and friends of the victims to facilitate their release.
In January 2023, Perez and another co-conspirator brought a victim to Charlottesville in exchange for a $10,000 ransom. An argument occurred that resulted in firearms being brandished when Perez and his co-conspirator were told that the $10,000 ransom was not available. The co-conspirator was fatally shot, and Perez was wounded.
