Report: Gonzalez involved in kidnapping

April 25, 2012 9:55 PM

By MADELINE BUCKLEY The Brownsville Herald


A publicly witnessed kidnapping in a Harlingen McDonald’s parking lot in March was ordered because the victim owed money to the Gulf Cartel, according to a court document obtained Wednesday.

Authorities recently arrested Jose Antonio Gonzalez, 42, the fourth man wanted in the March 9 kidnapping in which three men forced a 36-year-old Brownsville man into his gold Cadillac Escalade, leaving his 2-year-old daughter in the parking lot.

The affidavit for an arrest warrant alleges that although not present at the kidnapping, Gonzalez recruited three Brownsville men to kidnap the victim and deliver him to the Gulf Cartel because he owed them money for a load of stolen drugs.

The document states that Gonzalez was also wanted by the cartel for lost drugs, so he tried to deliver the victim instead.

Gonzalez is the son of San Benito City Commissioner Tony Gonzalez.
Tony Gonzales said Wednesday he did not know the details of his son’s case.

“He’s my son and I feel for him,” Tony Gonzales said. “I only know what I hear on the news.”

Pedro Francisco Garza, 36, Alexander Hernandez, 19, and Hector Primitivo Salinas, 39, all of Brownsville, are accused of approaching the victim in broad daylight at the fast food restaurant on West Lincoln Avenue and beating him with pistols until he got into his vehicle.

Witnesses called police, who soon spotted the Escalade, which led the officers on a chase that ended when the vehicle struck a post.

The three suspected kidnappers ran away, but officers arrested them as they tried to hide under some brush in the area. Police found the victim in the vehicle sitting with his hands tied and bleeding from the head.
When interviewed by detectives, Hernandez and Garza said Gonzalez recruited the trio for the kidnapping as the Gulf Cartel sought both men for lost drugs, according to authorities. Gonzalez armed them with pistols and located the man’s Escalade at the McDonald’s, the affidavit says.

Gonzalez ordered the men to kidnap whoever stepped into the vehicle, according to the document.

Harlingen police secured an arrest warrant for Gonzalez, who turned himself in about April 13, Dave Osborne of the Harlingen Police Department said. Jail records show he remains in custody at the Cameron County Jail.

Osborne said police are still investigating the possibility that one more man may have been involved. The affidavit names another suspected accomplice referred to as “Sharky.”

Osborne said detectives are trying to learn Sharky’s identity.
Gonzalez involved in kidnapping | kidnapping, mcdonald, publicly - Report - Brownsville Herald