Purported Former Member Of U.S. Navy Led Violent Mexican Kidnapping Ring, Authorities Claim

MISSION, TX - APRIL 11: Undocumented immigrants from El Salvador sit handcuffed after being detained by the U.S. Border Patrol near the U.S.-Mexico border on April 11, 2013 near Mission, Texas. A group of 16 immigrants from Mexico and El Salvador said they crossed the Rio Grande River from Mexico into Texas during the morning hours before they were caught. The Rio Grande Valley sector of has seen more than a 50 percent increase in illegal immigrant crossings from last year, according to the Border Patrol. Agents say they have also seen an additional surge in immigrant traffic since immigration reform negotiations began this year in Washington D.C. Proposed refoms could provide a path to citizenship for many of the estimated 11 million undocumented workers living in the United States. Photo by John Moore/Getty Images) (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images) (2013 Getty Images)

MONTERREY, Mexico – Mexican authorities say a U.S. citizen who reportedly once served in the U.S. Navy and was a police officer in Texas has been detained in northern Mexico for allegedly heading a violent kidnapping ring.

Nuevo León state security spokesman Jorge Domene said Monday that the man – known as both Luís Ricardo González García and Javier Aguirre Cardenas - and 15 of his alleged accomplices were detained last week. They allegedly kidnapped people in the Mexican states of Nuevo León, Coahuila and Tamaulipas over the past four years.

He is purported to have moved to Mexico in 2009.

The U.S. Embassy didn't immediately respond to a request for information.

Domene maintains that the suspect served in the Navy and was a police officer in Texas between 1998 and 2009.

Domene says the gang staged the September kidnapping and killing of the father of the mayor of General Zuazua, a town near the industrial city of Monterrey.

The 16 members of the kidnapping ring were all arrested last month in eight separate operations in Nuevo León and Coahuila, but their information was not released to the public until Monday because the kidnapping investigations were only recently completed.

The American suspect was detained by authorities while traveling in a sport-utility vehicle in the wealthy Monterrey suburb of San Pedro Garza Garcia on October 19 and was found to be possession of a 9mm handgun.

Along with a soaring murder rate related to the drug trade, kidnappings in Mexico have been on the rise in recent years. About 1,205 people were abducted in the first nine months of the year, compared to 1,317 in 2012, according to official reports from the Mexican government.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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