Jauhn Etienne Villaruel

Article (news)

Agence France-Presse

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px;display:block" width="960"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1781827499760Screen Shot 2026-06-19 at 8.04.45 AM.png" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">A Mexican mayor allegedly faked her own kidnapping to embezzle $2 million worth of government funds disguised as ransom, local authorities said Thursday.<em> 📷༘ Luis Ramirez, Unsplash</em></span></span></span></div><p>MEXICO City, Mexico — A Mexican mayor allegedly faked her own kidnapping to embezzle $2 million worth of government funds disguised as ransom, local authorities said Thursday.</p><p>Nancy Napoles, the municipal president of Tenancingo, several hours outside Mexico City, has proclaimed her innocence, calling the accusations &quot;politicized.&quot;</p><p>Napoles belongs to the ruling Morena party of President Claudia Sheinbaum, who has made combating corruption one of the pillars of her administration.</p><p>Prosecutors said they requested Napoles give testimony on July 9 for the &quot;simulation of a kidnapping.&quot; There are no arrest warrants against her, unlike her husband and brother-in-law, who are on the run.</p><p>Armed men forced Napoles out of her car at gunpoint, according to the prosecutors office, basing the case on the testimony of three now-arrested &quot;kidnappers.&quot;</p><p>Authorities suggested that during her captivity her captors threatened to kill Napoles and her family if they didn&#x27;t pay &quot;40 million pesos in exchange for her freedom,&quot; advising her that if they couldn&#x27;t pay the ransom -- equivalent to $2.3 million—she would need &quot;to take resources from the local government.&quot;</p><p>But an unsuspecting witness who saw the mayor being forced into a car upended the plan when he tipped off the police, who started a search and forced the mayor to abandon the mission.</p><p>A subsequent investigation revealed inconsistencies in her story, suggesting that the mayor&#x27;s husband and brother-in-law planned the &quot;false kidnapping&quot; to claim public money that &quot;was already embezzled, creating a justification for the money.&quot;</p><p>Napoles denied the accusation and said she was willing to cooperate with authorities to clarify what happened so &quot;the guilty actors are punished.&quot;</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>© Agence France-Presse</strong></div><div><br/></div><p>.</p>

<p>A Mexican mayor allegedly faked her own kidnapping to embezzle $2 million worth of government funds disguised as ransom, local authorities said Thursday.</p>

A Mexican mayor allegedly faked her own kidnapping to embezzle $2 million worth of government funds disguised as ransom, local authorities said Thursday.

Mexican mayor accused of faking her kidnapping in embezzlement scheme

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Mexican mayor accused of faking her kidnapping in embezzlement scheme

Agence France-Presse

Published June 19, 2026 08:06 AM PHT

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Agence France-Presse

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