Fresno women sentenced in kidnapping plot tied to domestic abuse case

U.S. District Judge Jennifer L. Thurston sentenced Fresno residents Rosa Ventura and Claudia Gonzales to 20 years and 17 years in prison, respectively, for kidnapping a young mother and her 9-year-old daughter and using the case to protect Ventura’s brother after a domestic violence arrest.

The mother from Mexico had come to Fresno with her daughter, later gave birth to a second child, and then reported Ventura’s brother to police after a domestic violence incident on May 8, 2024. Ventura blamed the mother for the arrest and built a plan to force her out of the country while keeping the woman’s 5-month-old baby in Fresno.

Ventura told the mother she needed help raising money for her brother in jail and then drove the mother and older daughter away after the baby was left with a relative. Gonzales joined the plot, hiding in the trunk of Ventura’s car during part of the trip. The women took the mother and child to an open field, then continued south toward the border. When the victims tried to escape at a gas station around 3 a.m., Gonzales used a taser on the mother and the two were forced back into the car.

Ventura crossed into Tijuana, Mexico, and abandoned the mother and daughter at a bus stop around 4 a.m. When the mother asked about her infant, Ventura told her it depended on what happened in her brother’s case. The mother and her daughter remained in Mexico for seven months before U.S. law enforcement brought them back in December 2024, and the baby stayed in Fresno out of her custody from May 8 through November 2024.

A federal grand jury indicted Ventura and Gonzales in January 2025 on three kidnapping-related counts. Gonzales later pleaded guilty on Feb. 23, 2026, to conspiracy to kidnap involving a minor. Homeland Security Investigations and the Fresno Police Department investigated the case, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Robert Veneman-Hughes and Cody S. Chapple prosecuted it.