Minden, NV..On Saturday, February 12, 2011 Douglas County Sheriff’s Deputies responded to a call of an adult female Hispanic being kidnapped at gunpoint by an unknown adult male Hispanic. The incident was reported by the kidnapped female’s boyfriend.

A short time later, Douglas County Deputies later located the suspect and victim parked in a minivan in the parking lot at the Minden Walmart. The male suspect was taken into custody, and a firearm was recovered. The female was found unharmed.

Subsequent investigation revealed that the incident was in fact, not a kidnapping.

It was discovered that the female and would-be kidnapper are divorced but still involved in a relationship, and they staged the incident as a means for the female to avoid her relationship with her current boyfriend (the original reporting party in the incident).

The ex-husband and ex-wife had conspired to entice the current boyfriend outside his residence where the ex-husband and his two friends could batter him. When their plan failed, they simulated a kidnapping to get the current boyfriend outside his residence by coming to the rescue of the female. That plan also failed.

Both the female, 38 year-old Lea Heredia-Cortez, and her ex-husband, 49 year-old Mauricio Lopez, were arrested and are being held at the Douglas County Jail. Due to the fact that a firearm was displayed at the current boyfriend during the incident, both were booked on charges of Assault with a Deadly Weapon. Both are also being held on no-bail Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) holds.

DCSO Investigators are still looking for the two suspects who accompanied Mauricio Lopez to the victim’s house to intimidate/batter him. The two outstanding suspects are identified as Habraham Heredia-Cortez and Roberto Biyagrana, both residents of Carson City.