Two brothers from Waller, Texas, have been sentenced to a combined 366 months in federal prison for holding a Minnesota family at gunpoint and forcing the theft of more than $8 million in cryptocurrency.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota announced Friday that Raymond Christian Garcia received 180 months and Isiah Angelo Garcia received 186 months. U.S. District Judge Donovan W. Frank handed down the sentences after both men pleaded guilty on June 18 to one count each of interference with commerce by robbery.
According to court documents, on September 19, 2025, the brothers drove from Texas to a home in Grant, Minnesota, intending to steal the family’s cryptocurrency. They bound the family with zip ties and held them at gunpoint for more than nine hours. Raymond Garcia guarded the man’s wife and adult son with an AR-15-style rifle while Isiah Garcia forced the father, identified as Victim 1, to log into his accounts and transfer funds to a wallet controlled by the brothers.
When initial transfers did not meet expectations, Isiah Garcia drove the victim about three hours to a family cabin in northern Minnesota to retrieve a hardware wallet and transfer additional funds. The total stolen amount exceeded $8 million, and the brothers agreed to pay more than $8 million in restitution as part of their pleas.
Authorities caught the brothers after the victim’s son called 911. Investigators found a suitcase near the home containing a disassembled AR-15-style rifle, ammunition, and a Wendy’s receipt. The receipt helped trace a rental car to the Houston area, leading to arrests near Waller, Texas. Security footage also showed Raymond Garcia renting a motel room in Roseville, Minnesota.
Christopher D. Dotson, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Minneapolis field office, described the attack as “a targeted act of violence” in which the brothers broke into a home, abducted a victim, and terrorized a family at gunpoint for hours.
The case underscores a documented rise in physical attacks on cryptocurrency holders, sometimes called “wrench attacks.” Chainalysis counted 46 such incidents worldwide in the first half of 2026, while CertiK documented 34 attacks in the first four months of the year, totaling $101 million in losses.
