ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – An Albuquerque man has been sentenced to 26 years in federal prison for a home invasion of his father-in-law and robbing a bank. Officials say 36-year-old Marc Candelaria did it to fuel a gambling addiction.
Court documents say on September 14, 2021, Candelaria staged a home invasion of his father-in-law and was assisted by an unknown accomplice who acted as an intruder. Officials say the intruder entered the home late at night and tried to get the father-in-law to open a safe at gunpoint. When the safe couldn’t be opened, the intruder forced the father-in-law to write a check for $23,000.
After that, the father-in-law (identified in court documents as John Doe) was brutally beaten and lost consciousness having sustained serious head injuries. Doe was found the next day by his daughter and taken to the hospital in critical condition.
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Following the invasion, Candelaria tried to deposit the check in his bank account but the bank put a hold on the check because of what appeared to be two separate handwritings and alerted Doe’s wife of the possible fraudulent check.
Then on October 30, Candelaria robbed a Bank of America branch using a handwritten demand note threatening cartel violence. The bank teller gave Candelaria from his register.
An investigation showed Candelaria committed both crimes to fund a gambling addiction. Between 2020 and May 2022, he visited a local casino around 169 times and lost large sums of money.
Candelaria was convicted of bank fraud by a federal jury on March 27, 2024. On April 10, Candelaria entered a plea agreement for the bank robbery charge.
After his release from prison, Candelaria will be in five years of supervised release.