McALLEN — A Louisiana man has been sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for kidnapping and sexually assaulting a young McAllen teen he met on Snapchat.
U.S. District Judge Micaela Alvarez sentenced Brandon Galvez, 24, of Chalmette, Louisiana to the 20-year mandatory minimum during a sentencing hearing Monday afternoon.
Galvez will also serve five years under court supervision once released from prison and will have to register as a sex offender. The judge further ordered that he have no contact with the sex assault survivor or other children.
Alvarez said that Galvez’s actions had been meant to deceive and that that caused her serious concern.
“You’re trying to evade a lot of responsibility here,” the judge told Galvez as he stood before her waiting to learn his fate.
Alvarez referred to a letter Galvez had written to the court requesting leniency — asking to be sentenced to probation in light of this being his first criminal offense.
“There is no such thing as you get a first free offense conviction here,” Alvarez said.
Galvez and the girl had begun talking via Snapchat in June 2020. Just days later, he and another man, Jose Antonio Ramos-Serrano, traveled from Louisiana to McAllen to pick her up.
Law enforcement first became aware of the situation when the girl’s mother reported that she had run away and had left a note on June 21, 2020.
Border Patrol agents later apprehended Galvez and Ramos-Serrano at the Falfurrias checkpoint as they were attempting to leave the Rio Grande Valley that same day.
The 13-year-old girl was in the vehicle with the two men, McAllen Police Chief Victor Rodriguez said during a June 23, 2020 news conference announcing their arrest.
“Between the time of leaving the home and arriving at Falfurrias, she had already been sexually assaulted,” the police chief said.
“Many offenses, including sexual assault, had already transpired with the hour of leaving the house,” Rodriguez added.
The chief also explained that — even though the girl had willingly gotten into the vehicle with Galvez and Ramos-Serrano — a crime had still occurred.
“Even though she chose, she’s just not old enough. She’s not mature enough to choose and to know to choose,” Rodriguez said.
The girl’s choices would go on to have an impact as Galvez’s case made its way through federal court several months later.
There, he was charged with kidnapping, coercion and enticement of a minor, and conspiracy to transport a minor with intent to engage in a criminal sexual act.
Galvez faced 20 years to life on the kidnapping charge, and 10 years to life on the other two charges, as well as up to $250,000 in fines on each charge.
During court hearings, however, Galvez seemed unable to comprehend that taking the girl was a crime — regardless of her decision. He admitted as much when he told a magistrate judge that he didn’t understand the charges against him a month after his case was transferred to federal court.
And his own attorneys grew concerned that he was incapable of assisting them in his defense.
They grew so concerned that, in December 2020, his defense attorney, Lee “Kenny” Perez, filed a motion requesting the court allow Galvez to undergo a competency evaluation.
“Brandon Galvez is presently unable to assist properly and rationally in his defense,” Perez stated in the motion.
“Specifically, counsel is unable to communicate with Defendant regarding the pertinent facts of the case and has serious doubts as to Defendants (sic) ability to understand the nature of the proceedings and stand trial,” he further stated.
To bolster the argument, Perez noted that Galvez has been on social security disability since he was a child, and that he has been diagnosed with ADHD.
However, during a competency hearing the following September, Alvarez ruled that Galvez was indeed fit to stand trial.
On Aug. 4, Galvez reached a plea agreement with federal prosecutors wherein he would plead guilty to the kidnapping charge in exchange for the government dismissing the other two counts against him.
But whether Galvez has truly come to understand the gravity of the charges against him and the consequences of his guilty plea, Perez, his attorney said, “He said he understood.”
“He told the judge he understood,” Perez said.
As she handed down his punishment Monday, however, Alvarez indicated she believed Galvez’s alleged incompetence had been something far more sinister.
“This is something that I believe was very calculated,” Alvarez said. “That you would come here for the sole purpose of picking up this girl.”
Galvez’s codefendant, Ramos-Serrano, is slated to be sentenced on Dec. 16.
