Men guilty of kidnapping attorney receive probation
Two 19-year-old relatives each received 10 year probationary sentences Dec. 21 for their role in the May abduction of an immigration attorney.
Edward and Juan Carlos Lerma pleaded guilty in November to kidnapping charges stemming from the May abduction of a lawyer with Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid.
Prosecutors allege one of the victim’s teenage clients – an immigrant who was staying in her home at the time– helped the teens plot the attack. The boys took the client and the lawyer from her Weslaco home at gunpoint May 6 and drove them around for a few hours while trying to steal money from her bank account. Both were eventually released unharmed.
The client – Gregorio Ruiz – pleaded guilty to his role in the kidnapping plot on Dec. 14 and also received a 10 year probationary sentence.
