US Politics | Who is Florence Cassez and where is she now?
FRENCH national Florence Cassez was 33 years old when she was arrested alongside her boyfriend, Israel Vallarta, and accused of running an infamous kidnapping ring in 2005. Cassez has continuously claimed she is innocent, and a new Netflix true crime documentary will delve into the mysteries of the case. 
AFPFlorence Cassez was convicted of being a part of a kidnapping ring '/ ' Who is Florence Cassez? Florence Cassez traveled from her home in France to Mexico where she was visiting her brother and sister-in-law in 2003 when she was introduced to Israel Vallarta. The introduction blossomed into a relationship that The New York Times described as ...a difficult relationship that alienated her friends, who sensed that he was trouble.... Cassez left Mexico, leaving their romance behind, but in 2005, she made the jump to move in with Vallarta at his ranch just south of Mexico City. Only a few months after Cassez relocated to Mexico, she and Vallarta were driving when they were pulled over and arrested on December 8, 2005. READ MORE ON CRIME 
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SICK SNAP Sister of Ahmaud Arbery 'suspect' posted a picture of his dead body on Snapchat The couple was accused of running Los Zodiacos (The Zodiacs), a prominent group that ran a kidnapping ring. Cassez claimed she and Vallarta were broken up at the time of their arrest but authorities brought her back to the ranch where they staged a raid and rescue mission of three kidnapped hostages. The Guardian reported the staged raid was an attempt to appeal to the media and was carried out "by the government as proof that it was winning the battle against organized crime.... Presidential spokesperson, Ruben Aguilar, told The Guardian a year later that it was a mistake to stage the raid. Most read in News WHAT HAPPENED? Beloved musician and his wife found dead on desert road in bizarre tragedy GUN RAMPAGE Woman, 31, shared chilling post before 'killing 3 family members & herself' HORROR FIND Mystery death of Epstein associate at 77 after body 'decomposed for a WEEK' HORROR ABUSE Man 'set ex-girlfriend's genitals on fire before killing her & his parents' REALITY RIDDLE Mystery as reality TV star, 28, is found dead in river weeks after vanishing NUKE ALERT Europe's biggest nuke plant 'DISCONNECTED from grid' as Russia masses troops ...All we tried to do was serve you, the media,... the attorney general, Daniel Cabeza de Vaca, said at a news conference in 2006. ...That and show the public that there is an institution that is working for them, that has successes, and that arrests people.... Authorities said there were three people being held in a farmhouse on Vallarta's property including a man, a mother, and her 11-year-old son. Cassez claimed to have no knowledge of the kidnapping and when Vallarta confessed to the crime, he told law enforcement that Cassez was innocent. In a statement, he said he had moved the kidnapped individuals to a one-room cabin because his accomplices had threatened to hurt the victims. A case was built around Cassez's alleged involvement in the kidnapping, and the evidence hinged primarily on the testimony of four people. Was Florence Cassez convicted? Three of Cassez's accusers were the kidnapped victims who did not have a visual of their abductors, The New York Times reported. The first individual was the mother of the 11-year-old boy, Cristina Ríos Valladares, who at first said she didn't recognize Cassez's voice. Valladares later changed her testimony, and claimed Cassez threatening her in her French accent ...still drills into my ears today." The case was widely publicized and Alejandro Martí, the father of a 14-year-old boy who was kidnapped and killed in 2008, told The New York Times: "The prosecutor has overwhelming evidence. "Where the devil can we draw the conclusion that the famous Madame Cassez is innocent?" Cassez was placed in prison until 2007 when she stood before a judge in a closed-door trial without a jury. She was charged and convicted of kidnapping and illegal possession of two firearms and sentenced to 93 years in prison. Her sentence was later reduced to 60 years. Cassez's defense lawyer, Agustín Acosta, told the New York Times in 2009 that the staged raid authorities carried out set the tone for Cassez's prosecution. "The first image, the one of a kidnapper, is very difficult to change," Acosta said, adding: "The media impact is very, very strong." 
AFPFlorence Cassez was released from prison in 2013 '/ ' Was Florence Cassez released? Cassez served seven years in a Mexican prison before she was released and allowed to return to France in 2013. The journey to return home started with an appeals process, in which Cassez's lawyers argued that her basic human rights were violated when authorities held her and Vallarta to carry out a staged raid at the ranch. Her defense lawyer said in court that Cassez had not been granted access to a lawyer until several days after her arrest which violated Mexican law that each suspect receives ...due process.... The court was shown evidence in the form of interviews in which the kidnapped victims had initially told police they did not recognize Cassez before changing their stories. Mexico's Supreme Court ruled that Cassez would be released and returned to France, saying she had been denied due process. Three out of the five judges who oversaw the case said authorities removed Cassez's right to presumed innocence by carrying out the faked raid. Netzai Sandoval, an international law professor at Mexico City's Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico told ABC News in 2013: ...When police or prosecutors place a suspect on mass media and present him as a perpetrator of a crime, they are violating that suspect´s human rights.... When she returned to France, Cassez went to the Elysee Palace where then-President Francois Hollande greeted her. Speaking to reporters, Cassez said: "My release is a great victory for Mexicans,... adding that she considers herself to be a "victim" of a failing justice system. Where is Florence Cassez now? Cassez appears in the new Netflix true crime documentary that explores the events leading up to her arrest and all that occurred after. Read More on The US Sun 
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TO THE MOON Nasa schedule as spacecraft designed to take humans to moon set to launch The documentary, titled A Kidnapping Scandal: The Florence Cassez Affair, is spread across five episodes and aired on Netflix on August 25, 2022. Netflix says in Cassez's recollections in A Kidnapping Scandal, she ...recounts how she met Israel Vallarta and their televised arrest in 2005 when Mexico was going through a security and kidnapping crisis....
AFPFlorence Cassez was convicted of being a part of a kidnapping ring '/ ' Who is Florence Cassez? Florence Cassez traveled from her home in France to Mexico where she was visiting her brother and sister-in-law in 2003 when she was introduced to Israel Vallarta. The introduction blossomed into a relationship that The New York Times described as ...a difficult relationship that alienated her friends, who sensed that he was trouble.... Cassez left Mexico, leaving their romance behind, but in 2005, she made the jump to move in with Vallarta at his ranch just south of Mexico City. Only a few months after Cassez relocated to Mexico, she and Vallarta were driving when they were pulled over and arrested on December 8, 2005. READ MORE ON CRIME DREAM JOB? You could earn thousands watching True Crime for 24 hours straight - here's how SICK SNAP Sister of Ahmaud Arbery 'suspect' posted a picture of his dead body on Snapchat The couple was accused of running Los Zodiacos (The Zodiacs), a prominent group that ran a kidnapping ring. Cassez claimed she and Vallarta were broken up at the time of their arrest but authorities brought her back to the ranch where they staged a raid and rescue mission of three kidnapped hostages. The Guardian reported the staged raid was an attempt to appeal to the media and was carried out "by the government as proof that it was winning the battle against organized crime.... Presidential spokesperson, Ruben Aguilar, told The Guardian a year later that it was a mistake to stage the raid. Most read in News WHAT HAPPENED? Beloved musician and his wife found dead on desert road in bizarre tragedy GUN RAMPAGE Woman, 31, shared chilling post before 'killing 3 family members & herself' HORROR FIND Mystery death of Epstein associate at 77 after body 'decomposed for a WEEK' HORROR ABUSE Man 'set ex-girlfriend's genitals on fire before killing her & his parents' REALITY RIDDLE Mystery as reality TV star, 28, is found dead in river weeks after vanishing NUKE ALERT Europe's biggest nuke plant 'DISCONNECTED from grid' as Russia masses troops ...All we tried to do was serve you, the media,... the attorney general, Daniel Cabeza de Vaca, said at a news conference in 2006. ...That and show the public that there is an institution that is working for them, that has successes, and that arrests people.... Authorities said there were three people being held in a farmhouse on Vallarta's property including a man, a mother, and her 11-year-old son. Cassez claimed to have no knowledge of the kidnapping and when Vallarta confessed to the crime, he told law enforcement that Cassez was innocent. In a statement, he said he had moved the kidnapped individuals to a one-room cabin because his accomplices had threatened to hurt the victims. A case was built around Cassez's alleged involvement in the kidnapping, and the evidence hinged primarily on the testimony of four people. Was Florence Cassez convicted? Three of Cassez's accusers were the kidnapped victims who did not have a visual of their abductors, The New York Times reported. The first individual was the mother of the 11-year-old boy, Cristina Ríos Valladares, who at first said she didn't recognize Cassez's voice. Valladares later changed her testimony, and claimed Cassez threatening her in her French accent ...still drills into my ears today." The case was widely publicized and Alejandro Martí, the father of a 14-year-old boy who was kidnapped and killed in 2008, told The New York Times: "The prosecutor has overwhelming evidence. "Where the devil can we draw the conclusion that the famous Madame Cassez is innocent?" Cassez was placed in prison until 2007 when she stood before a judge in a closed-door trial without a jury. She was charged and convicted of kidnapping and illegal possession of two firearms and sentenced to 93 years in prison. Her sentence was later reduced to 60 years. Cassez's defense lawyer, Agustín Acosta, told the New York Times in 2009 that the staged raid authorities carried out set the tone for Cassez's prosecution. "The first image, the one of a kidnapper, is very difficult to change," Acosta said, adding: "The media impact is very, very strong." AFPFlorence Cassez was released from prison in 2013 '/ ' Was Florence Cassez released? Cassez served seven years in a Mexican prison before she was released and allowed to return to France in 2013. The journey to return home started with an appeals process, in which Cassez's lawyers argued that her basic human rights were violated when authorities held her and Vallarta to carry out a staged raid at the ranch. Her defense lawyer said in court that Cassez had not been granted access to a lawyer until several days after her arrest which violated Mexican law that each suspect receives ...due process.... The court was shown evidence in the form of interviews in which the kidnapped victims had initially told police they did not recognize Cassez before changing their stories. Mexico's Supreme Court ruled that Cassez would be released and returned to France, saying she had been denied due process. Three out of the five judges who oversaw the case said authorities removed Cassez's right to presumed innocence by carrying out the faked raid. Netzai Sandoval, an international law professor at Mexico City's Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico told ABC News in 2013: ...When police or prosecutors place a suspect on mass media and present him as a perpetrator of a crime, they are violating that suspect´s human rights.... When she returned to France, Cassez went to the Elysee Palace where then-President Francois Hollande greeted her. Speaking to reporters, Cassez said: "My release is a great victory for Mexicans,... adding that she considers herself to be a "victim" of a failing justice system. Where is Florence Cassez now? Cassez appears in the new Netflix true crime documentary that explores the events leading up to her arrest and all that occurred after. Read More on The US Sun DOUBLE BENEFITS Millions of SSI claimants to get two payments worth up to $1,682 next month TO THE MOON Nasa schedule as spacecraft designed to take humans to moon set to launch The documentary, titled A Kidnapping Scandal: The Florence Cassez Affair, is spread across five episodes and aired on Netflix on August 25, 2022. Netflix says in Cassez's recollections in A Kidnapping Scandal, she ...recounts how she met Israel Vallarta and their televised arrest in 2005 when Mexico was going through a security and kidnapping crisis....
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