Wendy’s receipt led to TX brothers accused of taking MN family hostage, feds say
Brothers accused of holding a Minnesota family hostage in a cryptocurrency heist have been arrested in Texas, authorities say.
Raymond Christian Garcia, 23, and Isiah Angelo Garcia, 24, were charged federally with kidnapping after being accused of holding a Washington County family at gunpoint for nine hours, prompting the cancellation of a school football game nearby, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota said.
According to a news release, the brothers broke into the victims’ house on the morning of Sept. 19 and zip tied the three victims, a husband, wife and adult son, and “forced them to lie on the floor.” While Raymond Garcia kept the wife and son in the house, Isiah Garcia forced the husband to transfer “large amounts of cryptocurrency into a cryptocurrency wallet” the older brother provided, prosecutors said.
The brothers discovered through a third party that the victim had additional crypto funds on a hard drive at a different location, authorities said. Isiah Garcia forced the husband in the victim’s truck and drove three hours to a cabin where the hard drive was being stored, according to authorities.
“In total, the Garcia brothers forced (him) to transfer $8 million worth of cryptocurrency to their wallets,” prosecutors said.
The younger brother was able to escape after the victim’s son called 911 as Raymond Garcia left the house briefly, authorities said,to dispose of the AR-15 style rifle he was armed with in a tree line around the area. When Washington County Sheriff’s deputies arrived, Raymond Garcia escaped out the back door of the home, the release said.
A disassembled AR-15 style rifle was found in a suitcase hidden in the tree line, officials said.
Isiah Garcia escaped by leaving the truck parked near a middle school and walked off, according to the release.
“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,” Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph H. Thompson said.
“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.”
Investigators said they were able to determine the brothers had rented a vehicle near Houston, Texas, three days before the heist based on evidence discovered in the tree line near the family’s house. The evidence included a Wendy’s receipt authorities used to track where the vehicle was rented.
Authorities arrested the brothers in Waller County, Texas, on Sept. 22, where Isiah confessed to the crimes, according to the release. The brothers were charged with three counts of kidnapping with a firearm, one count of first-degree aggravated robbery and three counts of first-degree burglary.
“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,” FBI Minneapolis Special Agent in Charge Alvin M. Winston Sr. said in the release.
Waller County is about a 60-mile drive northwest from Houston.
This story was originally published September 25, 2025 at 3:20 PM with the headline "Wendy’s receipt led to TX brothers accused of taking MN family hostage, feds say."