By Forum Staff
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Tex Ortiz was sentenced on Tuesday to more than a dozen years in prison for a kidnapping in which five people – including a 9-month-old – were held at gunpoint during a botched home invasion robbery that turned into a hostage standoff in Richmond Hill in 2020.
Ortiz, 38, pleaded guilty on June 30 to kidnapping in the second degree. Justice Gia Morris sentenced him Tuesday to a determinate term of 13 years in prison.
Co-defendant Wilbert Wilson, 53, of the Bronx, has pleaded guilty to kidnapping in the second degree and related charges and is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 12.
According to the charges against Ortiz:
On Nov. 17, 2020, at approximately 8:40 p.m., Ortiz and Wilson pried open the back door of a residence on 125th Street in Richmond Hill. Four women and a baby were inside.
The defendants zip-tied some of the hostages and held them at gunpoint. They demanded money from the mother and pistol whipped her on the head, causing her to fall into furniture while she held her 9-month-old daughter.
Photo Courtesy of DA Katz
This sentence will hopefully provide a measure of closure for his victims,” DA Katz said.
One of the victims managed to call 911 and when police arrived on the scene the young mother ran from the home clutching her baby in her arms.
The remaining three victims, still held hostage, were threatened by the defendants at gunpoint. The defendants at one point used one of the victims as a human shield, forcing the woman to walk in front of them at gunpoint and yell to the police not to shoot.
The defendants surrendered to police after releasing the last hostage.
“This defendant violated the sanctity of a family’s home, terrorizing them and endangering a baby. This sentence will hopefully provide a measure of closure for his victims,” Katz said.
