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As he plotted to kidnap two girls from a Cornelius school bus stop, Ruben Garcia Rosario promised his ex-wife $10,000 if she'd help him translate a ransom note into English, according to a bill of indictment made public Wednesday.
Garcia was arrested Sept. 29 and is in Mecklenburg jail on $52,000 bond, charged with attempted kidnapping and conspiring to kidnap the two girls, daughters of a couple for whom he'd worked as a painter in Cornelius.
Linda Gonzales, his estranged wife, was arrested in Edinburg, Texas. She is charged with conspiracy to commit first-degree kidnapping and is awaiting extradition to Charlotte.
When officers searched Garcia's car, they found several ransom notes, pictures of the girls, a loaded gun, duct tape, latex gloves, a ski mask and two Mexican passports.
The indictment says Garcia and Gonzalez wrote the ransom note over the telephone, threatening to kill the children if they didn't receive money.
Several times in early September, police say, Garcia drove a car past the children's school bus stop in Cornelius, where he took pictures of them with his cell phone.
Parents called police in early September, saying a man was at the bus stop in Cornelius early one morning, Cornelius Police Maj. David King said at a news conference following the arrest. The parents provided a description of the car, but it was gone before police arrived. On Sept. 22, they got another call from parents - the man taking pictures was back, and this time they had a license plate number.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg police arrested Garcia and charged him with driving without a license and carrying a concealed weapon. But after he was interrogated, officers say he told them about the kidnapping scheme.
The indictment says Garcia is an illegal immigrant, and federal authorities have placed a hold on him, preventing his release.
