Jose Hiram Singleterry, Alfredo Gracia and Norma Alicia Martinez faced a judge on four felony counts each in connection with a kidnapping that they allegedly took part in on Sunday.
The victim, a local man, was walking on the 2000 block of Tourist Drive after 1 a.m. Sunday when Singleterry, 33, and Martinez, 29, pulled up beside him on the road and forced him to get into their truck, according to the criminal complaint in the case.
Interim Police Chief Peter de la Garza said the couple didn’t know the man and probably targeted him at random because he was walking alone through a dimly lit area.
Once the victim was in the truck, the duo took his cell phone, debit card and H.E.B. cash card, according to the complaint. They also allegedly took about $160 cash from him.
The pair drove him to a Bank of America location on West University Drive and demanded that he withdraw money from his bank account, the complaint states. After several failed attempts to draw cash from an ATM there, Singleterry allegedly threatened to harm the man unless he could get them money.
The victim told the couple to drive to a neighborhood near the intersection of Moonlight Lane and North Jackson Road so he could get money from his sister, according to the complaint. Once there, Singleterry escorted the man out of the truck to collect the money, but the victim fled. The man later told police Singleterry chased him down and began beating him.
The duo threw the man back into the truck and bound him with duct tape, the complaint states. The couple picked up Gracia, 27, from an unknown location and allegedly began calling the victim’s family, demanding $800 in exchange for his life.
Family members said they didn’t have the money to pay, prompting Martinez to smack the victim with his cell phone, according to the complaint. The group then stopped to gas up the truck before driving the man to an undisclosed location. Once there, they allegedly stripped off his clothes, raped him and then tossed him into a canal while he was still bound with tape.
The trio fled the scene after that, the complaint states. Later that same morning, investigators received a call from McAllen Medical Center notifying them that the man was being treated there. It’s unclear how he ended up at the hospital, but the complaint states he freed his hands in time to avoid drowning in the canal.
Singleterry and Gracia were each arraigned Wednesday on charges of aggravated robbery, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, aggravated kidnapping and aggravated sexual assault. Martinez was handed the same four charges, as well as an additional count of aggravated robbery in connection with another incident.
Three of the charges are first-degree felonies, punishable by up to life in prison and a fine of up to $10,000 upon conviction.
The men were assessed $1 million bonds. Martinez was being held at the Hidalgo County Jail in lieu of a $1.25 million bond.
Source - http://www.themonitor.com/articles/raped-44375-robbed-edinburg.html
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