Pasadena admits to role in deadly kidnapping of luxury car dealer in San Gabriel; 2 defendants awaiting trial

A Pasadena man admitted to conspiring with three other men in the violent kidnapping of a luxury car dealer in San Gabriel, a failed heist that led to the victim’s death, prosecutors said Thursday.

Anthony Valladares, 28, told prosecutors he accepted cash from two other defendants to act as the “muscle” in the brutal beating and kidnapping of Ruochen “Tony” Liao, a Santa Ana resident and Chinese National who was living in the U.S. on a visa, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California.

Valladares has pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to kidnap. The kidnappers attempted to extort $2 million from Liao’s family, sending a photo of Liao badly beaten, blind-folded and tied up in July 2018, according to federal prosecutors. But the family never sent money and never received any other demands, prosecutors said. Two days after the abduction, two of the defendants allegedly drove to the Mojave Desert to bury Liao’s body. The defendants, Guangyao Yang, 26, and Peicheng Shen, 34, allegedly hired Valladares to help them, and Valladares recruited 24-year-old Alexis Ivan […]

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