Two brothers from Texas are admitting in court they held a Washington County couple and their adult son at gunpoint for nine hours while they stole several million dollars in cryptocurrency from them. Raymond Christian Garcia, 24, and Isiah Angelo Garcia, 25, pleaded guilty Thursday in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis to robbery in connection with their crypto caper in Grant in September that led to their arrests in their home state days later. “Violent schemes carried out for financial gain undermine the safety and security of our communities,” read a statement from U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen. “When individuals resort to intimidation and force, they can expect a swift and unified law enforcement response.” Washington County Sheriff Dan Starry, whose agency assisted in the investigation, added, “This crime struck close to home for many people in our area. It shook not only the victims involved, but it disrupted lives, created fear and left residents wondering how something so violent could happen here.” The east metro hunt for the Garcias prompted the cancellation of Mahtomedi High School’s football game against Bloomington Kennedy because the family’s home was less than a mile from the stadium. Along with admitting to the crime, the Garcias agreed to pay back the more than $8 million in restitution. Sentencing for the brothers has yet to be scheduled. In the meantime, they remain held in the Sherburne County jail without bail. Cryptocurrency is typically digital currency that is not tied to a bank or government and allows users to spend money anonymously. It also can be bought and sold on exchanges with U.S. dollars and other currencies.
According to the criminal complaints, which did not detail whether the Garcias knew the family or how they came to target them: Late in the afternoon on Sept. 19, a man called 911 and said he and his parents had just been robbed at gunpoint while held captive in their home since 7:45 a.m., when the Garcias confronted the father as he was taking garbage to the curb. The brothers took the father into the garage, bound his hands with zip ties and led him into the house. The Garcias awakened the father’s wife and their son at gunpoint, then zip-tied their hands and forced them all to the floor. Meanwhile, Isiah Garcia forced the husband at gunpoint to log into his cryptocurrency accounts and ordered him to transfer large amounts into a “cryptocurrency wallet” that Isiah Garcia provided. During the robbery, the husband saw both Garcia brothers frequently making phone calls to an unknown third party who appeared to be providing information about the transfers. Through this third party, the brothers learned the husband had additional cryptocurrency funds and demanded that money. He explained the remaining funds were on a hard drive-style cryptocurrency wallet at a family cabin roughly three hours away in the Grand Rapids area.
In response, Isiah Garcia forced the husband into the family’s truck. Isiah Garcia drove the two of them to the cabin to retrieve the hard drive while his wife and son remained captive. At the cabin, the husband transferred the remaining funds to the cryptocurrency wallet before Isiah Garcia drove with his victim back to the family’s home. As Isiah Garcia and the husband were returning and while Raymond Garcia was out of the home, the son managed to call 911. Deputies arrived to find the wife and son zip-tied in the house and spotted Raymond Garcia running out the back door. When law enforcement searched the area around the home, they found a suitcase in a tree line containing a disassembled AR-15-style rifle, AR-15 ammunition and clothing. Officers in multiple squads responded to the 911 call. Some of them unknowingly passed Isiah Garcia and his victim as they pulled over to allow the emergency vehicles to pass. Isiah Garcia turned the truck around, parked nearby and walked toward a middle school parking lot. He ditched a shotgun in a nearby field.
Using a Sept. 17 receipt from a Wendy’s restaurant in Roseville found in the recovered suitcase, law enforcement determined Isiah Garcia had rented a white Chevrolet three days earlier near Houston. On Sept. 22, law enforcement tracked the car back to the home of the Garcia brothers in Waller, where they were arrested. Raymond Garcia told police that the AR-15-style firearm he used in the kidnapping and robbery had been stolen. A search of the home turned up shirts that Raymond Garcia was wearing while at the Motel 6 in Roseville and a gun shipping box with a serial number matching the AR-15-style rifle that was recovered near the victimized family’s home. No cryptocurrency was found, and the complaints did not say where it might be located.