Man sentenced to 14 years in fatal West Mesa robbery, kidnapping

An Albuquerque man was sentenced last week to 14 years in prison for his role in fatally shooting 21-year-old Esteban Mercado-Rangel and kidnapping his teenage sister at a remote site on the West Mesa in 2021.

Erick Garcia, 24, pleaded guilty in August to charges of kidnapping and conspiracy to commit armed robbery in connection with Mercado-Rangel’s death. He also pleaded guilty to aggravated burglary in an unrelated break-in at a gun store.

District Judge Stan Whitaker sentenced Garcia on Monday in 2nd Judicial District Court.

Garcia’s co-defendant, Edgar Orona Camacho, 32, was sentenced in August to 25 years in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree murder and kidnapping in Mercado-Rangel’s killing.

Bernalillo County Sheriff’s deputies alleged in a criminal complaint that Orona Camacho and Garcia conspired to steal Mercado-Rangel’s car after they met by chance at a remote location where they were all shooting guns south of Interstate 40 near Route 66 Casino.

During the Sept. 25, 2021, robbery, Orona Camacho shot Mercado-Rangel multiple times, the complaint said. He died at the scene.

The two men then forced Mercado-Rangel’s 16-year-old sister into a car at gunpoint, but she was later able to escape from the vehicle, the complaint said.

The girl told deputies that she and her older brother were shooting guns in the area when two men they didn’t know befriended Mercado-Rangel and attempted to sell him a firearm.

The two men helped Mercado-Rangel jump-start his vehicle before one of the men shot him three times, the girl told deputies. The two men then forced her into a car at gunpoint.

The girl picked out Garcia and Orona Camacho from a photo lineup and identified Orona Camacho as the man who shot her brother, the complaint said. Investigators used Facebook messages to link Orona Camacho and Garcia to a plan to rob Mercado-Rangel.

Garcia also pleaded guilty to aggravated burglary for a Sept. 10, 2021, burglary, during which he rammed a car through the wall of a business, hammered a hole into an adjacent gun store, and stole seven firearms.