A 29-year-old Mission man had an attempted murder case dismissed against him last week because of his 2021 federal plea where he admitted to his participation in a violent crime involving drugs and a machine gun.
Ricardo Serna, 29, was charged with attempted murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, charges which were dismissed last Wednesday because he was previously sentenced to a little over 18 years in the Bureau of Prisons.
U.S. District Judge Randy Crane sentenced Serna Nov. 3, 2021, to more than 18 years in prisons on a hostage-taking charge and roughly five years for the violent crime charge.
Court records show both sentences will run concurrent.
Serna pleaded guilty to the charges in January of that year.
He had two counts of kidnapping dismissed after federal prosecutors asked Crane to do so, which the judge granted.
Serna was taken into custody by federal authorities on Sept. 24, 2019, after he and 11 other people were indicted by the authorities for operating a kidnapping ring.
For the state charges, Serna was accused of holding a man against his will in the 1000 block of Ricardo Avenue in Palmview on May 6, 2019, and shooting him in the leg three times with an AK-47.
According to the probable cause affidavit, the man allegedly knocked on Serna’s door when Serna pointed the weapon at him while his father, Rodrigo, 56, hit him with a beer bottle.
Both Sernas told investigators that the alleged kidnapping victim had come to their home to rob them, but investigators allege that the father and son owed the man money and that he had arrived looking to collect, the complaint said.
Rodrigo was also indicted on a charge of attempted murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, but he died at his home from heart disease on Aug. 16, 2021, resulting in the dismissal of those charges.
