An illegal alien from Honduras will spend more than 26 years in prison for his role as the leader of a rip-crew that targeted game rooms, cartel drugs, human smugglers, and even kidnapped migrants for ransom over a decade.
This week, 58-year-old Jose Salomon “El Chaparro” Madrid Paz went before U.S. District Judge Lynn N. Hughes in Houston, where he received a 26-year prison sentence for robbery and weapons charges. Since Madrid is in the country illegally, he faces deportation after his sentence. He pleaded guilty to the charges in January as part of a deal.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Madrid led a rip crew in the Houston area. Chaparro would carry out surveillance and oversee the “rips.” Known as “Tumbadores,” the group was made up of illegal aliens from Central America. Authorities have now identified and prosecuted 10 members of the crew.
The robberies were carefully planned by Chaparro. The team would case out the locations over several days to identify cameras, guards, and other security measures. In the case of game rooms, the members of the rip crew would pretend to be players while they studied operations. Available court documents do not provide details as to the drug and human traffickers that the rip crew targeted.
Prosecutors revealed that each member of the crew would have a role in the heists — such as disarming security guards, accessing safes, disabling cameras, and waiting as getaway drivers. At sentencing, prosecutors presented information showing how a site security guard was killed when a crew member failed to follow a plan during a rip.
Luisana Moreno is a contributing writer for Breitbart Texas.
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