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Leader of robbery rip crew handed 26-year sentence

By: U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Texas
| Published 07/12/2022

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HOUSTON, TX -- The leader of a group of robbers that targeted game rooms, alien smugglers and drug traffickers has been ordered to federal prison, announced U.S. Attorney Jennifer B. Lowery.

Jose Salomon Madrid-Paz aka Chaparro, 58, pleaded guilty Jan. 10 to interference of commerce by robbery and using a firearm during a crime of violence.

Today, U.S. District Judge Lynn N. Hughes sentenced Madrid-Paz to a total of 312 months in federal prison and ordered him to pay $30,400 in restitution. Not a U.S. citizen, he is expected to face removal proceedings following his imprisonment.

At the hearing, the court heard additional evidence detailing how Madrid-Paz and others were planning on committing three other robberies in addition to those related to their convictions as well additional statements about such crimes. Madrid-Paz said made comments detailing the arrest of others and how a security guard had been killed in other robberies because his co-defendants did not follow his instructions.

Madrid-Paz had been orchestrating robberies for over a decade. They would spend several days or weeks casing game rooms by pretending to be players. On the day of each robbery, Madrid-Paz would assign each member of the robbery crew specific duties. These included disarming security guards and tying them up, finding those with access to the safe or cash drawer, carrying it out of the location and acting as the getaway driver.

Madrid-Paz himself would act as a lookout and be in charge of dividing the money.

A “rip crew” is a group of individuals that engages in robberies of businesses and individuals that are unlikely to report the incident to law enforcement. This group was known as the tumbadores. They were comprised of illegal aliens from Central America who committed dozens of armed robberies in the Houston vicinity of game rooms, drug dealers and alien smugglers.

In addition to the robbery involving the death of a security guard, several others included the kidnapping of illegal aliens who were held for ransom.

Madrid-Paz has been and will remain in custody pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.

The Houston Police Department and Homeland Security Investigations conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Adam Laurence Goldman and Lisa Marie Collins prosecuted the case.

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