Charges: Armed bandits hold Twin Cities family captive, rob them of $8 million in cryptocurrency

Two brothers from Texas held an east metro couple and their adult son at gunpoint for nine hours last week while they stole $8 million in cryptocurrency from them before they were arrested days later, federal charges say.

Four days after the Sept. 19 robbery, Raymond Christian Garcia, 23, and Isiah Angelo Garcia, 24, were arrested four days later roughly 1,200 miles away in their home near Houston and charged Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis with kidnapping.

The east metro hunt for the crypto caper suspects last week prompted the cancellation of Mahtomedi High School’s football game against Bloomington Kennedy because the family was being held captive in its Grant home less than a mile from the stadium.

“A violent kidnaping that stole $8 million and silenced a homecoming game is not just a crime, it is a blow to the sense of safety of everyone in Minnesota,” acting U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson said in the statement announcing the charges, which came one day after three counts of kidnapping, and one each of first-degree burglary and aggravated robbery were filed in Washington County District Court.

“The Garcia brothers terrorized a Minnesota family in their own home, kidnapping one family member while holding the rest of the family hostage in order to conduct a brazen cryptocurrency theft,” said FBI Minneapolis Special Agent in Charge Alvin Winston Sr.

The Garcias were scheduled to appear in court Thursday. Court records do not list an attorney for them.

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.

Late in the afternoon on Sept. 19, a man called 911 and said he and parents had just been robbed at gunpoint while held captive in their home since 7:45 a.m., when the Garcias confronted the father about 7:45 a.m. 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 of cryptocurrency 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 that the remaining funds were on a hard drive-style cryptocurrency wallet at a family cabin roughly three hours away in the Grand Rapids area.

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. In total, $8 million worth of cryptocurrency was stolen.

As Isiah Garcia and the husband were returning and while Raymond Garcia was out of the home, the son found a way 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, clothing and beverages.

Offices 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.

Law enforcement also tracked down video surveillance showing that Raymond Garcia rented a Motel 6 room in Roseville shortly before the kidnapping. Law enforcement saw that, shortly after law enforcement responded to the scene of the kidnapping, the white Malibu returned to the Motel 6.

On Sunday, law enforcement tracked the car back to the home of the Garcia brothers in Waller, Texas, where they were arrested. Raymond Garcia told police that the AR-15-style firearm he used in the kidnapping and robbery had been stolen, while Isiah Garcia admitted that he and his brother Raymond Garcia carried out the crimes.