Two Texas brothers who zip-tied a Minnesota family, held them at gunpoint, then forced the father to send more than $8 million in crypto were sentenced to prison on October 29, 2026.
Raymond Christian Garcia received 15 years and Isiah Angelo Garcia 15 years and six months, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota said on October 30, 2026.
A caller appeared to know the father had more crypto
The father was taking out the trash at about 7:45 a.m. on September 19, 2025, when the brothers confronted him outside his home in Grant, Minnesota. Armed with a shotgun and an AR-15-style rifle, they took him inside, woke his wife and son, and bound all three with zip ties, according to the prosecutors’ account of the original charges.
Isiah gave the father a wallet address and demanded a transfer. The father told investigators that both brothers repeatedly called someone who appeared to be giving them information about his accounts. After the first transfer, the brothers demanded more. The father told them he kept another wallet at the family’s cabin in northern Minnesota. Prosecutors did not identify the person on the phone.
Isiah took the father to the cabin at gunpoint and forced him to retrieve the device and send the remaining funds. Raymond stayed at the house with the man’s wife and son. At about 4:45 p.m., while Raymond was outside, the son called 911. Deputies arrived to find him and his mother still bound.
A Wendy’s receipt helped investigators trace the brothers to Texas
In the trees behind the house, investigators found a suitcase containing a disassembled rifle and a Wendy’s receipt. The receipt helped them identify a white Chevrolet that Isiah had rented near Houston three days before the robbery. Cameras later picked up the car in Oklahoma, and investigators traced it back to the brothers’ home in Waller, Texas. Authorities arrested them on September 22, three days after the kidnapping.
As part of their June 18 guilty pleas, the brothers agreed to pay more than $8 million in restitution. The sentencing announcement did not say how much, if any, of the stolen cryptocurrency investigators recovered or how much the family has received.
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