ORANGE — A Honduran national who was one of three men charged in the 2017 kidnappings of a Bridge City attorney has been sentenced.
Erik Pagoada-Bustillo pleaded guilty as part of a deal and was sentenced Thursday to 20 years in prison for his part in the May 2017 of Jim Sharon Bearden, Jr., of Bridge City.
Bearden, Jr. was abducted May 8 from his home off of 1442 in Orange County when he was awakened by masked intruders.
The men tied him up and took several items from his home including guns and electronics.
The men then forced Bearden into his own car and drove him to Port Arthur where he was forced to withdraw cash from a bank. Afterwards he was released with his vehicle.
Bustillo was charged with burglary of a habitation, a 1st degree felony, along with two other Hondurans, German Adalid Borjas-Benitez, then 19 and Henrry Eduar Rivera-Antunez, then 17.
Borjas-Benitez was sentenced to 60 years in prison and fined $10,000 in January 2018.
