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Three mid-Valley men on Wednesday were sentenced to prison for a fatal home invasion that happened in Edinburg more than a decade ago.
Juan Antonio Moreno, 41, of Donna, Alberto Vela, 43, of Mercedes, and Jesse Joe Mata, 32, of Donna, have been in federal custody since 2013 on charges of conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute more than 220 pounds of marijuana and firing a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime.
However, the men were initially arrested by local authorities following the April 12, 2012 shooting at 2:05 a.m. at 7112 Rambo Street that left Victor Serna dead with a gunshot wound to his head and his son Eric Serna injured with gunshot wounds to his stomach and leg.
Moreno was sentenced to nearly 20 years in prison, Mata was sentenced to 16 years and Vea received a 10-year sentence, court records show.
They pleaded guilty on Aug. 4, 2014.
As the investigation unfolded, Eric Serna told investigators he was in his room asleep with his wife and young child when he heard someone breaking through the front door, according to the criminal complaint.
“After getting up from his bed, he encountered a man carrying a rifle,” the complaint stated. “At that point, Eric Serna began struggling with this man for control of the rifle.”
Shortly after, his father came out of his bedroom with a firearm and while he struggled with the man his son was struggling with, another man shot him in the back of the head and shot Eric Serna in the stomach and leg.
Later that same day, investigators responded to the Edinburg Regional Children’s Hospital for a report about a man shot in the stomach, who Moreno transported to the hospital. That man is Vela, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas.
Moreno told investigators he drove around the area as a lookout while his nephew, Mata, drove a Ford Explorer to the residence for the purpose of stealing marijuana.
They will be transferred to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons in the near future.
