Posted on 04/16/2008 3:34:37 PM PDT by SwinneySwitch
The two men who broke into the house of a maquinitas owner who was cooperating with the federal government and threatened him with a gun were likely doing so in an attempted kidnapping or murder for hire, a federal prosecutor said in court Tuesday.Jose Manuel "Whiskey" Nuñez Sanchez, 23, a Mexican citizen, and Sergio "Pelon" Oslan Rivera, 25, a Honduran citizen, were in federal court on Tuesday.
They awaited sentencing on weapons charges that stemmed from their involvement in the home invasion of Linh "Larry" Tuan Do.
At the time, Do was the owner of Entertainment World and an important source of information for federal agents investigating former police Sgt. Alfonso Santos, former Lt. Eloy Rodriguez and former Chief Agustin Dovalina III.
The two men had pleaded guilty in October each to being a felon in possession of a firearm on the day of the home invasion.
U.S. District Judge Micaela Alvarez sentenced Oslan to more than seven years in prison and Nuñez to 10 years in prison, the maximum penalty for that charge.
The two men broke into Do's house Nov. 10, 2006, and held his wife and daughter at gunpoint, according to court records.
Do came out to the front of the house with a 9-mm pistol, which jammed before he could fire.
Oslan chased Do into a bathroom and fired one shot at him as he tripped off the bathroom scale, missing him, Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Johnson said in court Tuesday.
After visiting the scene, it appeared to him that the bullet struck the wall at about the level where Do's head would have been, Johnson said.
Oslan then ran out yelling, "I already got him," in English and, "Vamonos, vamonos," in Spanish, according to court records.
There are conflicting accounts as to why the two men broke into Do's house, Johnson said.
Nuñez initially told federal investigators that he had been hired by a member of the Zetas to kidnap Do, according to court records.
But associates of Nuñez have told investigators that Nuñez and Oslan broke into the house to steal $100,000 at the behest of someone who had lost the money to Do in a card game, Johnson said.
However, the fact that the men didn't steal anything and the fact that they left the house after Oslan shot at Do led the government to believe the men were there to kidnap or kill Do, Johnson said.
Possessing the firearms while engaging in an attempted kidnapping or homicide would increase their sentences under federal guidelines.
"The circumstances do not suggest a robbery, and these were two people who knew how to conduct a robbery," he said.
Do denied involvement in a poker game and said he didn't know the person who had supposedly hired Nuñez and Oslan to rob him, Johnson said.
Attorneys, representing the two men, argued that there was insufficient evidence to increase their sentences.
The government had been unable to prove that the men were involved in a kidnapping attempt. It was trying to punish Nuñez and Oslan by increasing their sentences on the weapons charge, said Guillermo Ruben Garcia, Oslan's attorney.
Nuñez said in court that he had told investigators it was a kidnapping attempt because he was afraid that if he told the truth, it would leak to his associates.
In the past, he had cooperated with investigators, Nuñez said, and as a result his father had been killed by an organized crime syndicate in Mexico.
Alvarez denied their objections to the sentence, saying the government had shown sufficient evidence for an increase under the guidelines.
A number of factors called for a harsh sentence, she said, including the fact that Do's teenage daughter had been held at gunpoint.
Nuñez received a harsher sentence because of a prior conviction.
Laredo police in November charged both men with murder, engaging in organized criminal activity, aggravated robbery and assault with a deadly weapon.
Police allege Nuñez and Oslan were involved in a number of crimes in 2006 and 2007, including the December 2006 shooting of Julio A. Serrano.
Serrano was shot during a botched kidnapping attempt carried out at the behest of the Zetas, according to records in state district court.
A federal grand jury last month indicted Nuñez on drug smuggling charges. The federal case and the state district court cases are pending.
(Jason Buch may be reached at 728-2547 or by e-mail at jbuch@lmtonline.com)
Zetas ping!
If you want on, or off this S. Texas/Mexico ping list, please FReepMail me.
Does that mean Mccain will need to add this class of crime to his amnesty bill, are will they be grandfathered in..
Two more illegals from south of the border committing the crimes Americans aren’t committing. Can’t we just start shooting these invaders?
Too bad about the gun jamming.
There are certain benefits to using revolvers instead of semi-autos. You just pull the trigger again.
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