Texas brothers sentenced to 15 years in prison for robbing cryptocurrency with guns

In the first half of 2026, home invasions have become the most common form of "wrench attack" in the crypto industry globally, with the number of publicly reported incidents rising from 1 in the same period last year to 20.

Raymond Christian Garcia ( Raymond Christian Garcia ) and Isaiah Angelo Garcia ( Isiah Angelo Garcia ) from Waller, Texas, USA, were sentenced to 180 months and 186 months of imprisonment respectively for armed robbery of cryptocurrencies and kidnapping of a family in Grant, Minnesota.

According to a press release issued on Friday, the two brothers were sentenced on Thursday in front of U.S. District Judge Donovan W. Frank ( Donovan W . Frank ). They had pleaded guilty in June of this year.

Court documents show that on September 19, 2025, the two brothers traveled from Texas to Minnesota, where they carried out a kidnapping at the residence of victim 1 and their family members. Under the threat of guns, they tied up the family with tape and held them captive for over 9 hours, demanding access to victim 1's cryptocurrency accounts.

As they failed to obtain the expected amount of cryptocurrency, the two brothers subsequently forced the victim to drive to a cabin in northern Minnesota and obtained more cryptocurrency from other devices, totaling over 8 million US dollars.

After the victim's son called 911 to report the incident, the two brothers fled the scene. Subsequently, the police identified their identities near Houston and arrested them.

Two brothers threatened a family with guns

"Raymond and Isaiah Garcia violated the sanctity of a family home, kidnapped a victim, terrorized a family at gunpoint for several hours, and disrupted the entire community with an act of wanton violence and greed," said Christopher D. Dorson, head of the FBI's Minneapolis Field Office ( Christopher D . Dotson ).

Cointelegraph reported in July this year that, according to data from blockchain security company CertiK, in the first half of 2026, home invasions had become the most common form of "wrench attack" in the cryptocurrency sector, with the number of publicly reported incidents rising from 1 in the same period a year ago to 20.

CertiK stated in July of this year that in the first half of 2026, it verified 52 "wrench attacks" worldwide, an increase of 33% compared to 39 cases during the same period in 2025. Among these, the number of kidnapping incidents rose from 12 to 16.