United States v. Hacha

POSNER, Circuit Judge.

Juan Hacha and his wife, Ixchel Solano, extorted money from Solano’s “friend” and former boyfriend, Juan Carlos Tenorio. Hacha told Tenorio that he had kidnapped Solano and her children and would harm *816them (along with Tenorio and Tenorio’s parents) unless Tenorio coughed up thousands of dollars in ransom. After paying Hacha nearly $55,000, Tenorio contacted the FBI, which arrested Hacha after recording calls to Tenorio in which Hacha pretended to have shot Solano in the leg, broken her fingers, and threatened to kill her and her children, and in which she was heard…