MERCED, Calif. –
The younger brother of a man accused of kidnapping and killing a family in central California pleaded not guilty on Thursday to charges of aiding his brother.
Alberto Salgado has been charged with conspiracy to commit robbery, accessory after the fact and arson, the Merced County District Attorney’s Office said.
Salgado, 41, was arrested days after authorities arrested his older brother, Jesus Salgado, 48. The elder Salgado pleaded not guilty last week to abducting and killing an 8-month-old baby, his parents and his uncle.
Alberto Salgado was appointed public defender by the court. The Merced County Public Defender’s Office did not immediately return a message seeking comment.
Jesus Salgado allegedly abducted the family at gunpoint from their trucking business on October 3. Authorities say Salgado, a former employee with a long-standing dispute, likely killed them within an hour.
The bodies of the victims were found two days after the abduction. A farmhand in an almond orchard in the San Joaquin Valley, California’s agricultural heartland, discovered the remains of Aroohi Dheri; his 27-year-old mother Jasleen Kaur; his father Jasdeep Singh, 36; and his uncle Amandeep Singh, 39.
Surveillance video showed the family members were abducted from their business in Merced, a city of 86,000 people about 200 miles southeast of San Francisco, by a suspect later identified as Jesus Salgado and taken away in Amandeep Singh’s van.
Firefighters found the truck on fire in the town of Winton, 10 miles north of Merced, hours after the abduction.