Man Who Held Queens Family Hostage Gets 13 Years In Prison: DA

QUEENS, NY — A man who held a Queens family, including a 9-month-old baby, hostage at gunpoint for hours after a botched home invasion robbery will spend more than a decade in prison, prosecutors said.

Tex Ortiz, 38, received a 13-year sentence Tuesday after he pleaded guilty to a kidnapping charge, said Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz.

"This defendant violated the sanctity of a family's home, terrorizing them and endangering a baby," Katz said in a statement. "This sentence will hopefully provide a measure of closure for his victims."

Ortiz and another man, Wilbert Wilson, 53, broke into a Richmond Hill home Nov. 17, 2020 in search of money they believed a man who had lived there owed them.

Once inside, they found four women and a baby girl, who they held at gunpoint, authorities said. While using zip ties on some women, they demanded money from the baby's mother and pistol-whipped her head, which caused her to fall into furniture as she clutched her 9-month-old child, prosecutors said.

The robbery broke down completely after one victim managed to call 911, prompting police to arrive just as the young mother ran from the 125th Street home with her baby in her arms, authorities said.

The two men held the three remaining women at gunpoint for five hours during a tense hostage standoff, police said. At one point, they used one woman as a human shield and forced her to walk in front of them at gunpoint and yell at the cops not to shoot, authorities said.

But, eventually, the men released their hostages and surrendered to police, prosecutors said.

Wilson also pleaded guilty to kidnapping and awaits sentencing on Sept. 12.