Laredo Man Sentenced to 25 Years for Brutal Assault in Dallas Parking Garage

 The Laredo man who brutally assaulted a woman in a downtown Dallas parking garage has been sentenced to 25 years in federal prison, announced Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Prerak Shah.  

David Cadena, 27, was charged via criminal complaint in November 2019 and indicted less than a month later.  Before he was federally charged, Mr. Cadena been charged by the state with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and aggravated robbery, but had twice bonded out of Dallas County Jail. A federal judge ordered him detained immediately after he was arrested by the feds.  He pleaded guilty in April 2021 to the federal charge, carjacking resulting in bodily injury, and was sentenced Thursday by U.S. District Judge Jane J. Boyle.

According to plea papers, Mr. Cadena admitted he savagely assaulted the victim with a fire extinguisher in the parking garage of the Statler Hotel around 2:30 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 21.

After assaulting the victim, Mr. Cadena allegedly carjacked her 2015 Toyota Corolla, drove it around the garage, and slammed it into a wall. A Statler security guard observed Mr. Cadena behind the wheel of the wrecked vehicle and removed him from the car for his own safety.

Authorities discovered the 27-year-old victim, identified in court documents as J.K., unconscious, with severe bruising and swelling to her face and head. She was transported to Baylor Hospital, where she lay in a coma for two days, and medical professionals documented nerve damage to her arms and legs as a result of the beating.

“Cadena was likely a blow short of committing capital murder,” prosecutors argued in a motion for upward variance from the sentencing guidelines, later granted by the judge. “This is not a run-of the-mill, garden-variety carjacking. Cadena’s crime is excessively violent and egregious.”

In court documents, Mr. Cadena asserted that because he was heavily intoxicated at the time of the crime, he has no recollection of the events that occurred that night. However, after reviewing the evidence, including security video and witness accounts, he agreed that he committed the offense as described.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation Dallas Field Office and Dallas Police Department conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Camille Sparks and Gary Tromblay prosecuted the case.