A washed-up actor turned animal rights activist allegedly tried to pay henchmen to kidnap an immigrant ex-employee and take her to Mexico after she won a $6.7 million lawsuit that bankrupted his charity, federal charges reveal.
Leo Grillo, 77, who appeared in the 2006 flop “Zyzzyx Rd” alongside Katherine Heigl and Tom Sizemore, is facing federal attempted kidnapping charges for allegedly offering up to $100,000 to a friend to abduct Adriana Duarte Valentines and remove her from the country.
The FBI said Grillo planned to force Valentines to cooperate with him regarding her lawsuit. The complaint states, “While in confinement, the woman would be forced to cooperate with GRILLO regarding her lawsuit. GRILLO said he would be willing to pay $100,000 to make that happen.”
Authorities say the FBI allowed the would-be kidnapper to go along with the plan. Grillo allegedly continued coordinating the scheme even after being shown a staged photo of Valentines and her husband bound and gagged.
Grillo founded the animal sanctuary Dedication and Everlasting Love to Animals Rescue (DELTA) near Los Angeles in 1979, which he described as the largest no-kill animal shelter in the U.S. He could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
Valentines, a Mexican immigrant, sued DELTA in 2024 for discrimination after Grillo fired her during her pregnancy. The lawsuit forced DELTA to file for bankruptcy last year. She claimed DELTA made her work without paid meal breaks, as required under California law, and terminated her for taking maternity leave in 2020.
During the trial, Grillo allegedly made statements “teetering on borderline racist,” referring to Valentines as a “lettuce picker,” her lawyer A. Jacob Nalbanyan told the New York Post.
After the verdict, online rumors falsely claimed Valentines was an undocumented immigrant. Nalbanyan called the reports “outlandish nonsense,” noting that the multi-year lawsuit would not have succeeded if she had not been a legal resident.
Prosecutors say that in December, Grillo contacted a colleague with business ties in Mexico to discuss the kidnapping in code, claiming he wanted to produce a “documentary” about the lawsuit. When authorities introduced delays to the phony plan, Grillo reportedly dropped the pretense entirely.
Even after seeing the staged photo, he allegedly continued sending instructions and money, apparently focused on getting Valentines and her husband out of the country before her adult sons grew suspicious, prosecutors say.
Grillo’s acting career peaked with “Zyzzyx Rd”, a 2006 film he produced and starred in. The movie, which has a 28% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, featured a young Heigl playing a “Lolita” character, according to IMDB.