One pleads guilty, others await trial in case of two Lexington men found dead in trunk
One of six men accused of being involved in a kidnapping that resulted in two killings in Lexington pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court.
Jean Michael Serrano-Jimenez, 30, admitted in the plea agreement to being part of a kidnapping conspiracy, according to court records.
The count against Serrano-Jimenez stemmed from a 2017 kidnapping of two men who were killed and left in the trunk of a car off Blue Sky Parkway in Lexington.
The victims were identified as 29-year-old Josė Olascoaga and 27-year-old Marco Antonio Tunai Ortiz, both of Lexington.
Serrano-Jimenez traveled with three other men from Pennsylvania to Lexington to locate and confront Olascoaga about money owed from previous cocaine and heroin transactions, according to the plea agreement.
Serrano-Jimenez then went with Rosario Diaz Barraza, Ramon Camacho Zepeda and John Carlos Betancourt to a garage on Blue Sky Parkway that Olascoaga owned. While they were there, they found Ortiz.
Serrano-Jimenez, Camacho and Betancourt then restrained Ortiz to a chair after being told to do so by Diaz. Camacho, Betancourt and Diaz then struck Ortiz repeatedly to get him to tell them where Olascoaga was, according to the plea agreement.
Olascoaga later arrived at the garage, at which point he was restrained to a chair and Camacho and Betancourt began striking him and demanding the owed money, according to the plea agreement.
Serrano-Jimenez witnessed Camacho strike Olascoaga in the head with a “long-bladed instrument,” according to the plea agreement. Serrano-Jimenez then saw Camacho put plastic bags over the heads of both Olascoaga and Ortiz, according to court records.
The bodies of Olascoaga and Ortiz were placed in the trunk of a car outside the Blue Sky Parkway garage and were found several days later.
Serrano-Jimenez is scheduled to be sentenced in September. He could face up to life in prison as well as a fine of up to $250,000, according to his plea agreement.
Diaz, Camacho and Betancourt are awaiting trial, along with two other men, Jose Felix Tlatenchi and Tomas F. Tlatenchi, according to federal court records.
This story was originally published March 10, 2021 at 7:18 AM.
