Ziyon Thompson Arrested; – A man from Baltimore enticed a father from California to Maryland under the pretense of discussing their marijuana business. Subsequently, he contacted the father’s son, displaying the father bound to a chair with duct tape over his mouth before he was fatally shot, according to federal prosecutors.
During a FaceTime call, Ziyon Thompson recorded Miguel Soto-Diaz from within a Baltimore row house, demanding ‘200 pounds of marijuana and $50,000’ from his son in exchange for the ‘safe return’ of his father on May 8, 2022, as stated by prosecutors. Soto-Diaz endured torture, and when the ‘kidnappers’ demands were not fulfilled, he was shot five times,’ court documents indicate. His remains were discovered by Baltimore firefighters who responded to a fire at the home, as per prosecutors.
Investigators from the city’s fire department suspect that the fire was ‘intentionally set,’ according to court filings. Currently, Thompson, aged 21, has been sentenced to 22 years and one month in prison for his role in aiding and abetting the murder of Soto-Diaz, as reported by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland in a news release on June 3. ‘Murder is widely regarded as the most heinous crime,’ prosecutors noted in a sentencing memorandum prior to Thompson’s hearing on June 3. ‘In this case, we have a family that has lost a father, husband, and caregiver.’
Thompson previously pleaded guilty to use of a firearm resulting in death during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime, court records show. Federal public defenders appointed to represent him, Katherine Tang Newberger and Sasha Garcon, didn’t immediately return McClatchy News’ request for comment June 4.
In court documents, his legal counsel argued Thompson wasn’t there when Soto-Diaz was killed and that he did not want him to die. “Nonetheless, he knows he is morally and legally responsible for a death that deprived a loving wife of her husband and a child of his father, and he tears up when discussing Mr. Soto-Diaz, his wife and child,” his public defenders wrote in a sentencing memo. The filing mentions Soto-Diaz’s wife was pregnant when he was held for ransom in Baltimore. Others involved in his killing weren’t identified by prosecutors.
The month before Thompson was accused of luring Soto-Diaz to his death, he visited Soto-Diaz and his family at their California home in late April 2022, according to prosecutors. Thompson stayed with Soto-Diaz to see “the family’s marijuana ‘farm,’” then “agreed to sell Soto-Diaz’s marijuana in Maryland,” court filings say. In charging documents, a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives described Soto-Diaz as a “marijuana trafficker.” Soto-Diaz’s son regularly communicated with Thompson for his father because Soto-Diaz didn’t speak English, according to prosecutors, who said his son would translate their texts and calls.
After Thompson’s California visit, he had an issue with “the quality” of Soto-Diaz’s marijuana and came up with a “ruse” to have the father visit Maryland, according to court documents. Soto-Diaz went to Maryland while believing he and Thompson were going to discuss marijuana sales on May 8, 2022, when he was picked up by Thompson at a Baltimore hotel, prosecutors said. Thompson took him to the Baltimore row home, where Soto-Diaz was tied to a chair, with duct tape covering his mouth and zip-ties binding his hands and ankles, according to prosecutors.
After Thompson demanded a ransom payment, he texted Soto-Diaz’s son, according to prosecutors, writing: “Pap said send the bags and money so he can be ok and he said don’t call the police or he want (sic) be coming home.” An autopsy revealed Soto-Diaz died from being shot in the Baltimore row home, not the fire that burned the residence afterward, according to prosecutors.
In seeking a 25-year sentence for Thompson, before he was handed a 22-year and one-month sentence, prosecutors wrote in the sentencing memo that Thompson agreed it was “reasonably foreseeable that Soto-Diaz would be killed during the extortion.” Thompson’s sentence is to be followed by five years of supervised release, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
