A Texas woman has been sentenced to 37 years in prison following her crime of leading a troop that robbed Indian-American homes across the nation.
The alleged has been identified as Chaka Castro, who is a 44 years old woman from Texas. She was sentenced by the US District Court Judge Laurie Michelson of the Eastern Michigan who was the one conducting the preceedings of the trial. Castro was sentenced on Monday, October 28th, 2019.
The trial went on for five weeks straight where Castro was accused and convicted under the Rackateer Influenced and Corrup Organisations (RICO) conspiracy. She was also accused with four counts of assault using a sharp and deadly weapon in aid of the racketeering along with four counts of use of firearm during a crime scene.
As per the evidence that was presented during the trial, it suggested saying that Castro and her entire gang, from 2011 to 2014 have conducted a series of invasions in the homes of several Indian-Americans spread across Georgia, New York, Ohio and Michigan as well.
The leader of the gang that led these robberies was Castro who would assign a single crew member in a distinct location. Once the members would conduct the surveillance and get the necessary reports, they would come back, plan and then execute the robbery as per the planning.
During the operations, Castro and her gang members would wear different clothing items to disguise themselves so it becomes hard for the victims to identify them and shoot for better ways to combat the shortcomings during the conducted trials.
In addition to that, the gang members would also openly carry firearms to control the victims and the kind of state that they are in. They would use those to threat the families and the children and corner them in one corner of the room.
One of the members of the gang was responsible for restraining the victims and tying them up and restraining them with duct tape. They would also threat them with violence, further making it hard for them to exist around. Another partner was advised to ransack the entire house in search of cash, other valuables like jewellery and electronics that they could further rob.
The prosecutors also said that the gang planned such home invasion robberies within a matter of days and would conduct multiple ones in a matter of days for better response through it.
