SAN ANTONIO
A federal judge sentenced 36-year-old Agustin Sergio Deleon Garza to life in federal prison for his role in the kidnapping of a Mexican businessman in December 2013, officials announced Thursday.
In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth ordered Deleon Garza to pay $73,800 restitution to his victim.
On January 15, 2015, a jury found Deleon Garza guilty of one count of conspiracy to kidnap; one count of aiding and abetting kidnapping; two counts of receipt of ransom money; one count of interstate communication of ransom; one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering; and, one count of aiding and abetting money laundering, officials said.
Evidence presented during trial indicated that on December 27, 2013, Jorge Luis Martin Cavazos Cantu was kidnapped from his Monterrey, Mexico residence by several men.
While Cantu was in the custody of his abductors in Mexico, Deleon Garza placed several phone calls from Bexar County to Cantu’s family seeking ransom, according to authorities.
In each call, Deleon Garza used a cellphone app which disguised his voice and his location. Cantu was released on January 29, 2014, after the ransom was paid.
“Kidnapping is a terrifying crime for the victim and for his family. Everyone knows that kidnappings can end very badly. Fortunately, the victim in this case survived and was released. Deleon Garza’s life-imprisonment sentence is appropriate and very well deserved,” stated U.S. Attorney Richard Durbin.