FARGO, N.D. (TCN) — A man and a woman have been arrested and charged after an apartment maintenance worker found a woman allegedly being held captive against her will in a bedroom.
According to the Fargo Police Department, officers responded to an apartment building on Nov. 3 after receiving a report of suspicious activity. Officers learned that a worker had gone into one of the units to conduct routine maintenance when he allegedly found a woman in a bedroom “who appeared to be held against her will for an extended period of time.”
Police announced on Nov. 5 that they arrested 40-year-old Arturo Calzada-Becerril and 41-year-old Erendira Amoles for felonious restraint involving an adult victim.
Valley News Live reports the worker said he heard cries for help while on the maintenance call. Inside the bedroom, the victim was allegedly chained to the bed and had a security camera aimed toward her. Foil reportedly covered the windows. According to court documents obtained by the outlet, the victim told police Calzada-Becerril was her ex-husband and he had brought her from Mexico to North Dakota in 2024, where he had allegedly kept her chained up ever since.
According to court documents, the victim said her ex-husband “brings her food twice a day but does not let her outside to use the bathroom, so she uses a bucket that’s in the bedroom to go to the bathroom,” Valley News Live reports.
The victim alleged she was also beaten and sexually assaulted; according to investigators, she was bruised when she was found, WJW-TV reports.
According to the New York Post, Calzada-Becerril and Amoles are boyfriend and girlfriend and Calzada-Becerril allegedly wanted to use the victim to help his immigration status, as she is an American citizen, per prosecutors. The three are reportedly from the same town in Mexico.
Calzada-Becerril claimed he kept the victim restrained so she would not run away and so she would not use drugs again, per the Post.
Valley News Live reports that as of Nov. 10, prosecutors charged the pair with kidnapping, assault, and domestic violence. WJW-TV reports they have pleaded not guilty.
A neighbor who lived in the same apartment building told the New York Post, “It’s usually a little quaint place to live, but Fargo is getting crazy.”
The investigation is ongoing.
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