WBTV 3 News, Weather, Sports, and Traffic for Charlotte, NC-Woman pleads guilty in Cornelius kidnapping scheme

Woman pleads guilty in Cornelius kidnapping scheme

By Jeff Rivenbark - email

CHARLOTTE, NC (WBTV) - A woman from Texas has pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to commit kidnapping involving two girls in Cornelius.

Linda Gonzalez, 21, entered a guilty plea on Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Charlotte.  She could get a maximum sentence of up to five years in prison, a $250,000 fine, or both. 

According to court documents, between July and September of 2009, Gonzalez was married to Ruben Garcia-Rosario. 

The court documents say Garcia-Rosario was living in Charlotte at the time and used a cell phone to call Gonzalez in Edinburg, Texas.

Garcia-Rosario allegedly asked Gonzalez to write a ransom note in a scheme to kidnap two girls who lived in Cornelius.  Police said Garcia-Rosario devised the kidnapping scheme after doing some work at the house where the girls lived with their parents.

On Wednesday, Gonzalez admitted in court that she agreed to write the note if Garcia-Rosario promised to give her $10,000. 

The ransom note demanded money from the victim's family and threatened to kill the girls if the money was not received.

Police caught Garcia-Rosario in Charlotte on September 29, 2009.  At the time of his arrest, Garcia-Rosario had multiple ransom notes, a photograph of the two girls in his cell phone, a loaded IFE .25 caliber semiautomatic pistol, ammunition, duct tape, latex gloves, two Mexican passports, and a ski mask.

Linda Gonzalez was later arrested in Texas.

Garcia-Rosario will go to trail on April 5. 

A sentencing date for Gonzalez has not been set.  She is being held at the Mecklenburg County Jail. 

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