Texas brothers sentenced to 15 years in prison for armed crypto robbery, kidnapping

Raymond Christian Garcia and Isiah Angelo Garcia, both of Waller, Texas, were sentenced to 180 months and 186 months in prison, respectively, for their armed robbery of cryptocurrency and kidnapping of a family in Grant, Minnesota.

The brothers were sentenced on Thursday before US District Judge Donovan W. Frank, according to a Friday news release. They had pleaded guilty in June.

On Sept. 19, 2025, the brothers, who had traveled from Texas to Minnesota, kidnapped Victim 1 and his family in their home at gunpoint, court documents said. They zip‑tied the family at gunpoint and held them for more than nine hours, demanding access to Victim 1’s cryptocurrency accounts.

When the brothers did not receive the amount of cryptocurrency expected, they forced Victim 1 to drive to a cabin in upstate Minnesota, where they obtained additional cryptocurrency from other devices for a total of more than $8 million.

The brothers fled after the victim’s son called 911, and police later identified and arrested them near Houston.

“Raymond and Isiah Garcia violated the sanctity of a home, abducted a victim, terrorized a family at gunpoint for hours, and disrupted an entire community in a brazen act of violence and greed,” said FBI Minneapolis Field Office Special Agent in Charge Christopher D. Dotson.

Cointelegraph reported in July that home invasions had become the most common form of crypto wrench attacks during the first half of 2026, rising to 20 publicly reported incidents from just one a year earlier, according to blockchain security firm CertiK.

CertiK said in July it verified 52 wrench attacks worldwide in the first half of 2026, up 33% from 39 incidents during the same period in 2025. Kidnappings rose to 16 from 12.