Texas Border City Man Pleads Guilty to Kidnapping, Burning Victim

A man from El Paso, Texas, pleaded guilty to kidnapping, burning, and disposing of the body of a man believed to have stolen drugs.

Late last week, 36-year-old Raymundo Guerra went before U.S. Magistrate Judge Leon Schydlower in El Paso, where he pleaded guilty to one of multiple kidnapping charges as part of a deal with prosecutors. Guerra is expected to be sentenced in October where he could face up to life in prison, however, two other defendants received shorter punishments.

The case began on December 23, 2015, when Guerra along with 39-year-old Charles Douglass, and 33-year-old Lawrence Dean “Gotti” Henry kidnapped another man who they believe had stolen drugs from them. The three men kidnapped the victim in Chaparral, New Mexico, took him to El Paso, and finally to a third location in Chaparral. The victim ultimately died, was burned, and then buried near Chaparral.

The case was filed as a missing person until 2017, when federal authorities found the victim’s remains. Federal prosecutors claim Guerra fled to Mexico until August 2020, when authorities there arrested Guerra and turned him over to U.S. Marshals. Guerra tried to fight the charges until his plea deal.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office revealed that in July 2019, Henry took a deal on one kidnapping and one drug trafficking charge. U.S. District Judge David Briones sentenced him to 40 years in prison.

Also in 2019, Douglass pleaded guilty to one charge of kidnapping and received a 14-year prison sentence.

Available court documents do not reveal if the men were involved with a particular Mexican cartel or other organized crime.

Luisana Moreno is a contributing writer for Breitbart Texas.