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Man Gets Prison In Arizona Hostage-Taking Case

A Mexican man has been sentenced to 70 years in prison in a 2012 hostage-taking case in southern Arizona.

Federal prosecutors say 43-year-old Isabel Perez-Arellanez, of Guasave, Sinaloa, was sentenced Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Tucson.

Perez-Arellanez was convicted last November of hostage taking, conspiracy to commit hostage taking, possession of a firearm during a violent crime and illegally possessing a firearm.

Perez-Arellanez and two co-defendants came across two people from Mexico and one from Guatemala in March 2012 about 50 miles south of Tucson.

The people had become lost and separated from their smuggling groups in the Tumacacori Mountains.

The victims were later rescued by Border Patrol agents. They told authorities Perez-Arellanez held them at gunpoint for several days and tried to extort money from their family members.

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