Three arrests have been made in the kidnapping of an Orange County attorney, Jim Sharon Bearden Jr. On the morning of May 8, Bearden was awakened by two masked intruders. The suspects tied him up and removed several items from his home including guns and electronics. The suspects then forced Bearded into his own vehicle, which they stole from his driveway, and drove him to Port Arthur. Bearden was then forced to withdraw cash from a bank. Afterwards he was released with his vehicle.

Detectives from the Orange County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigation Division were able to identify the two suspects that entered the house, and a third suspect who was driving a vehicle and acted as a lookout.

Last Friday, detectives located all three suspects in Port Arthur. All three subjects confessed to the crime. Warrants were obtained on all three for burglary of a habitation, a first degree felony and they were placed in the Jefferson County Jail. They are expected to be transferred to the Orange County Jail today.

Burglary of a habitation carries a higher penalty than kidnapping. Kidnapping has varying degrees of penalties, depending on the circumstances, but a burglary where another felony is committed in the process is a definite first degree.

All three suspects are from Honduras and were determined to be undocumented immigrants. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has placed immigration detainers on them.

The three suspects are German Adalid Borjas-Benitez, 19, Henrry Eduar Rivera-Antunez 17 and Erik Pagoda-Bustillo, 17.

The Orange County Sheriff’s Office CID was assisted in this investigation by the Port Arthur Police Department; the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office; the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office; the Orange County District Attorney’s Office; the U.S. Department of Homeland Security; U. S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.