Leo Grillo, the 77-year-old founder of one of the country’s largest no-kill animal sanctuaries, was arrested Tuesday after federal authorities say he paid to have a former employee kidnapped and flown to Mexico — all to silence her in an ongoing legal battle.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, Grillo faces a single federal charge of attempted kidnapping, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. The arrest came at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center in Burbank, where FBI agents had been surveilling him for weeks.
Grillo founded Dedication and Everlasting Love to Animals (DELTA) Rescue, a sprawling sanctuary in Acton, California, that he described as the largest no-kill, care-for-life animal sanctuary in the world. The trouble began after a former employee, Adriana Duarte Valentines, sued the organization for wrongful termination.
Duarte began working at the sanctuary in June 2017, cleaning cages and feeding animals. After she gave birth to a baby in February 2020, she said Grillo told her she had been replaced. She sued the following year, claiming she was fired because of a pregnancy-related disability.
In November 2024, an Los Angeles County jury sided with Duarte, awarding her $5.7 million in compensatory damages and $1 million in punitive damages. A judge later reduced the total to $2.9 million. The sanctuary filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in May 2025 and is appealing the verdict.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Grillo reached out in December 2025 to a man — identified in court documents only as Cooperating Witness 1 — who happened to be a target of a separate FBI fraud investigation and was already working with federal agents. The witness reported Grillo’s outreach to the FBI and agreed to cooperate.
The two men met multiple times at the equestrian center in Burbank so they could speak privately. Grillo insisted on face-to-face meetings, asked his contact to leave his cellphone in the car, and used coded language — referring to the kidnapping scheme as a “documentary” or “production.”
At a January meeting, Grillo allegedly laid out the full plan: he wanted Duarte, her young child, and her husband kidnapped, transported by plane from an airport in Lancaster to a remote part of Mexico, and held against their will until she agreed to settle the lawsuit. He said he was willing to pay $100,000 for the job.
In February 2026, Grillo mailed a $20,000 check drawn from an account called “Animals Are People Too” — of which he is president — to the cooperating witness. The memo line read “Production.”
As reported by Courthouse News, the scheme came to a head on Tuesday, when the cooperating witness showed Grillo a fabricated photograph on his cellphone appearing to show Duarte and her husband bound with zip ties, duct tape covering the woman’s mouth.
“They’ve got ’em,” the witness told Grillo.
He then told Grillo the kidnappers needed an additional $10,000 because the couple had not yet left the country. Grillo wrote out a second check for $10,000, with the memo line reading “Doc Invest.” FBI agents moved in and arrested him at the end of the meeting, recovering two firearms from his person.
After receiving his Miranda warnings, Grillo agreed to speak with investigators. He acknowledged that if the lawsuit were retried and Duarte could not testify, “that would be a favorable development for D.E.L.T.A. Rescue.” He insisted, however, that the payments were for a legitimate documentary unrelated to Duarte.
Duarte’s attorney, Armen Manasserian, said he was stunned when he learned of the alleged plot.
“My jaw is on the floor right now,” Manasserian told the Los Angeles Times. “I think it’s now clear that it’s not just about bad-mouthing her in the press or manipulating judicial process to ensure she never gets paid, but something a lot more sinister. I don’t have the words.”
A judge denied Grillo’s request for release on bond on Wednesday. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Kevin Butler, Kevin Reidy, and Haoxiaohan Cai. Grillo’s public defender did not respond to requests for comment.
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