Men charged in Pearce incident given bonds

SIERRA VISTA — Bond for the three undocumented Mexican immigrants arrested in connection to a woman being tied up in her guesthouse has been set at $15,000 each.

Alejandrino Lara-Silva, 19, of Puebla Puebla, Mexico; Natialio Valenzuela-Valdez, 41, of Alamos, Mexico; and Yercho Vedoch-Arrayo, 18, of Las Manches, Sinaloa, Mexico, were captured by U.S. Border Patrol agents after fleeing on foot Wednesday evening from an apparent kidnapping incident in Pearce.

The men each face a first-degree burglary charge at this time.

During the incident, the men allegedly used a rope to bound a 58-year-old woman who stumbled upon them in her guesthouse.

The men remain in custody at the Cochise County Jail, with an additional hold for them filed by the Border Patrol pending their release from county custody, Cochise County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Carol Capas said.

The victim reported to the Sheriff’s Office about 6 p.m. Wednesday that three Hispanic men had been inside the guesthouse about 4:30 p.m. that day. When she reached in the door to turn on the light, they grabbed her arm, told her to shut up and tied her up in the bathroom.

She told investigators one of them was armed with a rifle.

The woman was uninjured, and she freed herself about 30 minutes after being tied up and went to the neighbors for help.

The manhunt involving various Border Patrol units and the Sheriff’s Office then began and continued Thursday morning. The men were captured on foot Thursday afternoon north of Davis Road, south of Highway 181.

The investigation continues, and additional charges are pending.

No further information about the incident itself was released by the Sheriff’s Office on Friday.