QUEENS, NY – Tex Ortiz, 38, was sentenced today to 13 years in prison for a 2020 kidnapping during a botched home invasion in Richmond Hill, in which five people, including a 9-month-old baby, were held hostage at gunpoint.
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz expressed that the defendant’s actions were a violation of the family’s security and trust. “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,” said District Attorney Katz.
Ortiz, of First Avenue in Manhattan, pleaded guilty on June 30 to kidnapping in the second degree. Justice Gia Morris passed the 13-year sentence today. Ortiz’s co-defendant, Wilbert Wilson, 53, of Valentine Avenue in the Bronx, pleaded guilty to kidnapping in the second degree and related charges on July 21 and will be sentenced on September 12.
According to the charges, on November 17, 2020, Ortiz and Wilson broke into a residence on 125th Street in Richmond Hill, where four women and a baby were present. The intruders bound some of the hostages with zip ties and held them at gunpoint, demanding money and assaulting one of the women.
A victim managed to call 911, and the arrival of the police allowed one woman to flee the home with her baby. The remaining victims were held at gunpoint, and at one point, the defendants used one of them as a human shield, forcing her to plead with police not to shoot.
After releasing the last hostage, Ortiz and Wilson surrendered to police.