By City News Service Photo: Getty Images LOS ANGELES (CNS) - Three Los Angeles-area men pleaded not guilty today to federal charges for their alleged involvement in a ring that kidnapped at least a half-dozen people near the U.S.-Mexico border, later demanding ransom for their release and often refusing to release them after payments were made. Edgar Adrian Lemus, 23, and Francisco Javier Hernandez Martinez, 20, both of Vernon, and Junior Almendarez Martinez, 23, of Watts, are each charged with conspiracy to receive money obtained from the interstate transmission of a ransom demand for the release of a kidnapping victim, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.