A Hidalgo County grand jury indicted a 55-year-old Palmview man Thursday on charges of attempted murder and aggravated kidnapping.
Rodrigo Serna has been in custody since his June 11 arrest. He’s accused, along with his son, Ricardo Serna, of kidnapping, beating and shooting a man on May 6, 2019.
Ricardo, 26, is charged with attempted murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. He is in federal custody where he is charged with unlawful possession of an AK-47, two counts of kidnapping, a count of hostage taking and another count of violent crime/drugs/machine guns.
The men are accused of holding a man against his will and shooting him in the leg three times with an AK-47 in the 1000 block of Ricardo Avenue in Palmview last year.
Authorities allege the man knocked on Rodrigo and Ricardo’s door and Ricardo pointed the AK-47 at him while his father hit him with a beer bottle.
According to a probable cause affidavit, Ricardo told Palmview police that he had met the man several days before and something had gone missing from his house, prompting Ricardo to call the man to return the item.
When police interviewed the Sernas, they alleged the man was going to rob them.
Investigators, however, say the Sernas owed the man money and he showed up to Ricardo’s house looking to collect, according to the probable cause affidavit.
Ricardo, who is being held without bond, is indicted along with 11 other people in the federal case where prosecutors accuse the group of conspiring to kidnap and hold four people for ransom over a two-day period in May 2019.
Ricardo has pleaded not guilty to the federal charges, but hasn’t yet been arraigned on the state charges.
An arraignment date hasn’t yet been scheduled for Rodrigo, who remains jailed on $52,500 in bonds, records show.
