INDIANAPOLIS -- Three men crowded 22 illegal immigrants in a one-bedroom apartment and threatened to kill them if they tried to leave, according to a prosecutor who charged them Thursday with kidnapping and other counts. Sergio Felix-Martinez, 29, Jose DeJesus Severiano Palacios, 33, and Rolando Marcial-Hernandez, 26, were each charged with conspiracy to commit kidnapping, intimidation and criminal confinement, Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi said. Palacios also faces charges of attempted kidnapping and attempted criminal confinement.
Video: Men Charged With Holding 22 Illegal Immigrants In Apartment
The three were arrested after one of the immigrants escaped from the Greentree Apartments unit, located on the city's south side, and went to the Greyhound bus station downtown Monday. Some of his captors found him there and fought with him, attracting the attention of a security guard, authorities said.
When police went to the apartment, the other 21 immigrants were gone. Police don't know whether they escaped or whether somebody moved them to another location.
Authorities said they believe the Hispanic immigrants agreed to pay between $1,500 and $2,100 to people who helped them get them from Mexico into the United States. After they got into the U.S., they were driven to Indianapolis, where they were kept in the apartment, authorities said.
"They were not allowed to shower and not allowed to do laundry," Brizzi told reporters Thursday. "They basically all slept in one area and were allowed one egg per day."
Brizzi said the captors demanded more money from the immigrants after they were in the U.S.
"When they couldn't come up with the (extra money), they were threatened with, 'The American authorities are going to arrest you or we're going to kill you,' " Brizzi said.
Heather Cooper, who lives across the hallway from the immigrants' apartment, told 6News' Linda Allen that she had heard arguing and door-slamming from the unit, but "never heard any cries or screaming."
The immigrant who escaped from the apartment is now with relatives in Pennsylvania, authorities said.
Felix-Martinez, Palacios and Marcial-Hernandez were being held Thursday in the Marion County Jail.