A Lino Lakes man has received a 24-year prison term for drug trafficking and gun possession in connection with kidnapping and torture allegations.
Jose Angel Chapa-Aguilera, 24, was sentenced Thursday in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis after pleaded guilty in September to one count each of possession of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking and possession with the intent to distribute methamphetamine.
Chapa-Aguilera, who also goes by Luis Antonio Gomez-Ruiz and "El Capo," allegedly severely injured a man after hours of torture that followed a drug debt dispute at a Brooklyn Park home in December 2021. According to charges, Chapa-Aguilera barricaded the victim in the house's crawlspace.
The man, who escaped once Chapa-Aguilera left the home, suffered burns, broken ribs and a large laceration above his eye. His injuries required a blood transfusion.
Law enforcement seized meth from Chapa-Aguilera's home soon after the alleged torture. Authorities captured him on Jan. 7 and found him with a gun. A felony conviction in Anoka County for second-degree assault barred him from possessing any firearms or ammunition.
Ahead of sentencing, prosecutors in a court filing pushed for Chapa-Aguilera to receive a term near the top of federal guidelines, which recommended 25 years in prison.
The defense had sought "a sentence considerably lower than the government's recommendation."
After Chapa-Aguilera and his parents moved to Minnesota from Mexico when he was a toddler, the defense explained, "his mother coerced him to stop attending school so he could work to help his family financially."
