Two Texas brothers have been sentenced to a combined 326 months in prison for a violent home-invasion robbery in which they held a Minnesota family at gunpoint for hours and forced the father to hand over more than $8 million in cryptocurrency.
Raymond Christian Garcia and Isiah Angelo Garcia, both of Waller, Texas, were sentenced to 180 months and 186 months respectively—approximately 15 and 15-and-a-half years—by U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank in St. Paul on Thursday. Both brothers had pleaded guilty in June.
On September 19, 2025, the brothers traveled from Texas to Grant, Minnesota, and broke into the victim's home. They zip-tied the family and held them at gunpoint for more than nine hours while demanding access to the father's cryptocurrency accounts. When the initial transfer fell short of their expectations, they forced him to drive one of the brothers to the family's cabin in upstate Minnesota to retrieve additional hardware wallets and move additional funds. In total, they compelled him to transfer over $8 million before fleeing after the victim's son called 911. The pair were later arrested near Houston.
The case exemplifies a wrench attack, in which criminals use physical force rather than hacking to seize cryptocurrency. According to blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis, 46 violent incidents against crypto holders occurred in the first half of 2026, with more than $30 million stolen during that period.
The sentencing reflects an increasing trend of U.S. courts treating crypto-related wrench attacks as serious violent crimes.
