(FOX 9) - A man from Lino Lakes was sentenced to 24 years behind bars on Thursday for drug trafficking and firearm charges in connection to the kidnapping and torture of a man inside his Brooklyn Park home.
Jose Angel Chapa-Aguilera, 24, was sentenced to serve 289 months in prison followed by 10 years of supervised release after pleading guilty in September to one count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime and one count of possession with the intent to distribute methamphetamine.
According to court documents, in December 2021, Chapa-Aguilera confronted a man about debt from a drug deal. He got into an argument, brandished a handgun, and ordered the man to get on the ground. Chapa-Aguilera allegedly tied the man’s hands behind his back and beat and tortured him for hours using a heated knife and a pipe.
Chapa-Aguilera barricaded the man in a crawlspace underneath his house overnight. The man escaped the following morning and contacted law enforcement, according to charging documents. The man suffered extensive injuries, including numerous burns, broken ribs, and a large laceration above his eye. He also required a blood transfusion.
Police executed a search warrant at the home shortly after and found three pounds of methamphetamine locked inside a safe and two empty firearm boxes in his bedroom. Chapa-Aguilera still faces charges of first-degree assault and kidnapping in Hennepin County court in relation to this incident, according to court records.
Prosecutors say on Jan. 7, Chapa-Aguilera allegedly led police on a high-speed chase in the Twin Cities on westbound Interstate 94. Once stopped, officers recovered a semi-automatic handgun and several rounds of ammunition. The serial number of the gun in the car matched one of the empty boxes previously recovered in his bedroom, according to court documents.
Additionally, law enforcement had previously located another two pounds of methamphetamine inside his vehicle during a traffic stop for window tint on April 21, 2021. Court documents state police in Worthington searched the vehicle and located the methamphetamine and a firearm in the spare tire compartment of the car.
Chapa-Aguilera has an additional two cases pending in Nobles County, one for allegedly giving a court official a false name and several drug-related charges in connection to the April traffic stop.