A 34-year-old Edinburg man made a first appearance in federal court Thursday over allegations that he brandished a firearm during a November carjacking.
Fidel Garza Jr. is charged with using force to steal a vehicle that he thought was loaded with cash on Nov. 25, 2021.
He is also facing a state charge of aggravated robbery along with five other men.
A criminal complaint said McAllen responded at 12:27 p.m that day in reference to a report of a carjacking at 2801 Maple Ave. that happened at 11:40 a.m.
Responding officers learned that a 2012 Buick Enclave driven by a 67-year-old man, who had three minor relatives in the vehicle, was taken by force at gunpoint, according to the complaint, which said they were from Tennessee and had just driven the vehicle to McAllen.
The man reported that he was driving on 28th Street when a red truck cut him off and prevented him from moving his vehicle when a man wearing a black and white bandana over his face, who federal prosecutors say is Fidel Garza Jr., exited the vehicle and brandished a black handgun.
The complaint alleges that he approached the car and shouted at the Buick’s occupants to get out of the vehicle.
When they got out, the man with the gun got in the Buick and drove off with the red truck following him.
In a stroke of luck for investigators, one of the minor’s left a phone in the vehicle that had an application called Life360, which allows for real time and historical GPS tracking of the device, and the minor provided authorities consent to access the phone.
“During the review, McAllen police department was able to track the historical route that the phone took following the carjacking and the final destination before the device stopped providing GPS location data,” the complaint stated.
Investigators found numerous GPS points recorded between 11:28 a.m. and 12:05 p.m., and the last recorded location was at a ranch located at 21604 N. Val Verde Road in Edinburg, according to the complaint.
McAllen police also uncovered city camera footage in the vicinity of the carjacking and were able to recover the license plate of the red truck, which was a Dodge Ram that was registered to Fidel Garza Jr.
Authorities learned that the Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Office previously encountered the man on Jan. 26, 2021, in the red truck and found a handgun in the vehicle’s center console.
That led to Fidel Garza Jr.’s arrest on a charge of unlawful possession of a firearm. He pleaded guilty to that charge on Nov. 17, just days before the carjacking, and was sentenced to five years community supervision, which was revoked.
He has not yet been re-sentenced in that case.
On Nov. 30, as the investigation developed, McAllen police investigators executed search warrants at the Edinburg ranch and recovered a DVR system that controlled cameras at the ranch, according to the complaint.
By Dec. 1, investigators obtained a search warrant for that DVR system and extracted video recordings from Nov. 25 that showed the red Dodge Ram truck and Buick Enclave arrive at the ranch.
“Additionally, 6 males were observed searching the Buick and removing components of the vehicle as though they were searching for something,” the complaint stated.
In addition to Fidel Garza Jr., those men include 54-year-old Mission resident Fidel Garza Sr.; 22-year-old Edinburg resident Julio Garcia; 18-year-old Mission resident Fernando Garza de la Fuente; 18-year-old Edinburg resident Ruben Andrew Alexis Garcia; and 26-year-old McAllen resident Irvin Gallegos Garza.
Federal and state court documents do not indicate whether Fidel Garza Jr. and Fidel Garza Sr. are related, but do say that Gallegos is Fidel Garza Jr.’s half-brother.
All of the men are charged with aggravated robbery. Fidel Garza Jr., Fidel Garza Sr. and Garcia have pleaded not guilty while the remaining suspects have not yet been arraigned.
Fidel Garza Sr. is also charged with tampering with evidence over allegations he attempted to alter videos to impede the investigation, according to the indictment.
Federal authorities arrested Fidel Garza Jr. on Dec. 22 as he left the Hidalgo County Probation Office.
“Garza Junior subsequently admitted to committing the robbery with his half-brother Irvin Gallegos Garza,” the complaint stated. “Garza Junior stated he had received a tip from an unknown person that the Buick was transporting a load of money.”
During an interview with investigators, Fidel Garza Jr., however, claimed a gun was not brandished during the robbery.
“Garza Junior stated that they only found a few thousand dollars in the Buick,” the complaint stated. “Garza Junior stated that he committed the robbery for the money since he was about to lose his home due to back taxes.”
U.S. Magistrate Judge J. Scott Hacker on Thursday ordered him temporarily held without bond pending a detention hearing scheduled for next week.
All of the remaining suspects, except Garza, have since bailed out of the Hidalgo County Adult Detention Center.
