MIAMI , Florida ( CNN ) -- A mother and her teenage son are kidnapped . The kidnappers place a cell phone in the car of the boy 's father so they can communicate their ransom demands . The son is burned with a blowtorch . The mother implores the father to pay the ransom . A terrifying scenario , but one that the FBI and police say was all orchestrated by the mother to get some fast cash from her ex-husband . The mother , Alejandra Arriaza , her boyfriend , Angel Ponce , and his nephew , Joel Boza , were charged Tuesday with federal kidnapping counts . If convicted , they could be sentenced to life in prison . According to an FBI affidavit , all three have admitted their roles in the phony kidnapping . `` We took it very seriously and believed a couple of lives were at risk , '' said Jim Leljedal of the Broward County , Florida , sheriff 's office . `` And then to find out that one of the victims was involved in the plot was pretty surprising . '' The three suspects will have a detention hearing Wednesday in a federal court in Miami , Florida . The U.S. attorney 's office would not comment on the case . According to the FBI affidavit , written by special agent Scott Wilson , the plot was Arriaza 's idea . It began , court papers say , when she and her boyfriend found out her ex-husband had recently come into some money from the sale of a business , and that he kept a large amount of cash in his home . The father and son are not named in the affidavit , which refers to the father as `` H.P . '' and to his 17-year-old son as `` N.P . '' The affidavit says that the plot began Thursday when Arriaza told her son she wanted to take him to Wal-Mart to purchase an Apple iPhone . When they got back to their car , a masked intruder appeared from the back seat , pointed a gun at the son 's back and told him and his mother that they were being kidnapped , according to the affidavit . The kidnapper placed thick tape over the son 's eyes and instructed his mother to drive to a mobile home in southwest Miami , where a second person , who introduced himself as `` El Negro , '' was waiting . The affidavit says the men forced N.P . to sit in a chair , where they bound his hands . His torso was bound to the back of the chair with shrink wrap , and his legs were bound with tape . The boy 's head was wrapped in thick tape from the top to the tip of his nose , and he was put in a closet , where he spent the night . The next day , according to the FBI affidavit , the kidnappers called the boy 's father on a cell phone they had placed in his car . The father then called authorities , who began to record the phone calls . At one point during the abduction , the son told the kidnappers that his father had about $ 50,000 in a bank , the affidavit says . When the kidnappers felt that the father was not complying with their demands , they threatened to burn his son , and at one point , according to the affidavit , `` the kidnappers put a lit blowtorch close to the phone , so he could hear it . '' During another phone call , Arriaza , who is the father 's ex-wife , told him that kidnappers were burning their son 's feet . She implored him to pay the kidnappers their ransom , the affidavit says . At one point , Wilson wrote , the kidnappers held the blowtorch so close to N.P . `` that it burnt the hair off his leg . '' `` I think they wanted to impress him with the seriousness so that he would relay ... to his father to come up with some money , '' Leljedal said . Under the FBI 's guidance , the father arranged to pay the ransom . But late in the evening of April 10 , before the ransom was paid , law enforcement located the mobile home and rescued the son , who immediately identified his mother 's boyfriend , Angel Ponce , as one of the men inside the unit where he was being held . A search of the home turned up a fake gun , a blowtorch , tape and three cell phones . According to the affidavit , Ponce said Arriaza came up with the idea to have herself kidnapped , along with her son , to get money from her ex-husband . Arriaza later admitted her involvement in the kidnapping and said her son had no involvement in the ruse , according to the FBI . `` We do n't think she meant to harm to her son . She just wanted to collect from her ex , '' Leljedal said . In the end , he said , it was all about one thing : `` The basic motive of greed . ''
Woman , boyfriend , third man charged in bizarre fake kidnapping . Score: 6 They said kidnappers bound teen with tape , burned him with blowtorch . Detention hearing set for Wednesday in Miami federal court .