Overview
- Federal courts sentenced Kyle Kahalehili Maez-Schaack to 30 years in prison on Monday for his role in a kidnapping-for-ransom tied to a methamphetamine debt.
- Prosecutors say the March 2024 abduction began after a co-defendant identified the victim on social media and ordered Maez-Schaack to seize him over a $6,000 debt for 500 grams of meth.
- Authorities say Maez-Schaack and others held the victim at gunpoint, beat him, forced him to call friends and family for ransom money, and transported him from Fargo, North Dakota, to a home in Moorhead, Minnesota.
- The victim escaped when left unattended and the suspects kept his vehicle; Maez-Schaack pleaded guilty in February 2026 to kidnapping, drug-trafficking conspiracy, brandishing a firearm, and felon-in-possession charges.
- The FBI and ATF led the investigation and federal prosecutors emphasized the sentence as part of a broader effort to target violent actors in meth distribution in the Red River Valley and Devils Lake region.