Brothers Charged in $8 Million Armed Crypto-Kidnapping Heist

MINNEAPOLIS – Raymond Christian Garcia, 23, and Isiah Angelo Garcia, 24, were charged federally by complaint with Kidnapping for engaging in a kidnapping and cryptocurrency heist where they held a family at gunpoint for nine hours and stole $8 million in crypto currency, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph H. Thompson.  The crime forced Mahtomedi Public Schools to cancel its homecoming football game for the safety of its community.

“A violent kidnapping 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,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph H. Thompson.  “This is not normal.  Minnesotans should not accept wild violence and thievery as normal.  Every Minnesotan deserves to live in peace and a life unaffected by rampant crime.”

On September 19, 2025, at 4:45 pm, the Washington County Sheriff’s Office Dispatch Center received a 911 call from an adult male who reported that he and his family had been victims of an armed robbery and kidnapping by two adult male suspects and had been held hostage at gunpoint within their residence in Grant, Minnesota.  The two kidnappers were the Garcia brothers.  The 911 caller reported that he, his father (Victim 1), and his mother had been held hostage.

At 7:45 am that morning, Victim 1 was taking out a garbage can to the street when the Garcia brothers suddenly appeared and pointed an AR-15-style rifle and a shotgun at Victim 1.  The Garcia brothers took Victim 1 into the garage where they bound his hands with zip ties.  They then brought Victim 1 into the house.  The Garcia brothers woke up Victim 1’s wife and adult son at gunpoint. They also zip tied their hands and forced them to lie on the floor.

Defendant Raymond Garcia held the wife and son in their home for nine hours. Raymond Garcia was armed with the AR-15-style rifle for the duration of the kidnapping.  About 15 minutes before the son called 911, Raymond Garcia left the home out the back door with the AR-15-style rifle, heading towards the tree line.  Raymond Garcia returned to the home shortly thereafter, without the rifle.

Meanwhile, while Raymond Garcia held the wife and son hostage, defendant Isiah Garcia forced Victim 1 at gunpoint to log into his cryptocurrency accounts.  Isiah Garcia demanded that Victim 1 transfer large amounts of cryptocurrency into a cryptocurrency wallet that Isiah Garcia provided.  During the robbery, Victim 1 saw both Garcia brothers frequently making phone calls to an unknown third party, who appeared to be providing the information related to the cryptocurrency accounts and transfers.

Through this third party, the Garcia brothers became aware that Victim 1 had additional cryptocurrency funds.  They demanded the money.  Victim 1 explained that the remaining funds were on a hard drive-style cryptocurrency wallet that was stored at a family cabin approximately three hours away.

Isiah Garcia, armed with the shotgun, then forced Victim 1 into Victim 1’s truck.  Isiah Garcia drove the truck and Victim 1 to the family’s cabin to retrieve the hard drive. All the while, Raymond Garcia held Victim 1’s wife and son hostage with the AR-15-style rifle.  At the cabin, Victim 1 transferred the remaining funds to the cryptocurrency wallet provided by Isiah Garcia.  Isiah Garcia then drove Victim 1 back towards Victim 1’s home.

In total, the Garcia brothers forced Victim 1 to transfer $8 million worth of cryptocurrency to their wallets.

As Isiah Garcia and Victim 1 were returning to the home, Victim 1’s son used the moments that Raymond Garcia left the home to call 911.  Washington County Sheriff’s Deputies responded to the scene following the 911 call and found the wife and son zip tied in the house. As they arrived, Washington County Sheriff’s Deputies saw a man, later identified as Raymond Garcia, running out the back door.  When law enforcement searched the area around the home, they located a suitcase in the tree line.  In the suitcase, they found a disassembled AR-15-style rifle, AR-15 ammunition, as well as clothing items and beverages.

Multiple squads responded to the 911 call, some of whom unknowingly passed Isiah Garcia and Victim 1 as they pulled over to allow the emergency vehicles to pass.  Isiah Garcia turned the truck around, parked it nearby, and walked towards a nearby middle school parking lot.  Isiah Garcia ditched the shotgun in a nearby field.  To protect the safety of the community, Mahtomedi Public Schools was forced to cancel its homecoming football game in response to the ongoing law enforcement activity near the campus.

Using a Wendy’s receipt located in the suitcase recovered behind Victim 1’s house, law enforcement was able to determine that Isiah Garcia had rented a white Chevrolet three days prior to the kidnapping, near Houston, Texas.  Law enforcement also located video surveillance showing that Raymond Garcia rented a Motel 6 room in Roseville, Minnesota, 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.  The next day, law enforcement spotted the car on cameras in Oklahoma.  On September 21, 2025, law enforcement tracked the car back to the home of the Garcia brothers in Waller, Texas.  After returning to Texas, Raymond Garcia reported that his AR-15-style firearm that he used in the kidnapping and robbery had been stolen.

On September 22, 2025, law enforcement arrested the Garcia brothers in Texas.  Once in custody, Isiah Garcia confessed.  He admitted that he and his brother Raymond Garcia had driven to Minnesota, held Victim 1 and his family at gunpoint, tied them up using zip ties, and driven Victim 1 to the family cabin.  On September 23, 2025, the Garcia brothers were charged by complaint in Washington County, Minnesota with three counts of kidnapping with a firearm, one count of first-degree aggravated robbery, and three counts of first-degree burglary.

On September 24, 2025, the Garcia brothers were both charged in a federal complaint with kidnapping.  Both defendants will make their initial appearances in federal court today and the government will request their detention pending trial.

“As alleged in the complaint, 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 M. Winston, Sr.  “This office, together with our federal, state and local law enforcement partners in Minnesota and in Texas, will work tirelessly to hold accountable those responsible for this horrific crime.”

These cases result from an investigation conducted by the FBI and the Washington County Sheriff’s Office.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office extends its profound sympathies to the victims and lauds them for their bravery and quick action in calling 911.  The U.S. Attorney’s Office is grateful for its partnership with the Washington County Sheriff’s Office and the Washington County Attorney’s Office.  The quick and excellent federal-state cooperation in this case was essential to the filing of federal charges.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Rebecca E. Kline is prosecuting the case.

A complaint is merely an allegation, and the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.