Four adults face robbery charges after a 13-year-old boy was robbed while walking home from Del Valle Middle School on Oct. 29. The boy was held down near Marion Manor Park in El Paso’s Lower Valley and lost his backpack, wallet and iPhone 14. All four defendants remained incarcerated as of Thursday.
The El Paso Times reported that the group caught up with the boy at Indian Place and Niles Street. Michael Anthony Bustos, 29, and Damian Garcia, 28, are accused of holding him down as his belongings were taken. Bustos also allegedly threatened to kill the boy and said he had a handgun, though no weapon was displayed. Mary Jane Celeste Bustos, 27, and Ailyn Lynell Chavira, 21, were also arrested on robbery charges.
Witnesses Say Two Women Laughed During the Attack
Witnesses told prosecutors that the two women laughed during the robbery, the newspaper reported. Police said patrol officers and the Mission Valley Tactical Unit arrested two men and two women, whom witnesses identified as the suspects.
A driver who stopped to help the boy, traveling with her two young children, took him home, according to the report. She and the boy’s father later found the suspects about a mile away on Link Drive, near a canal by Pendale Road, and called police. Officers then arrested the four.
Suspect Told Police All Four Were Involved
Chavira allegedly told police that “all of us” were involved and directed officers to the location where the stolen items had been stashed, according to the report. She reportedly said she did not know why the group robbed the boy and regretted what happened. A statement from Veronica Vallejo cited in the report said the actions of all four individuals could traumatize the boy.
Bond Decisions Vary Among the Four Defendants
Magistrate Judge Ruben Nuñez lowered Chavira’s bond from $35,000 to $20,000, with conditions barring contact with her co-defendants or the victim and requiring her to stay 200 yards from Marion Manor Park. She was held at the Downtown jail as of Thursday. Garcia was held at the El Paso County Jail Annex on a $25,000 bond.
Nuñez declined to lower Mary Jane Bustos’ $20,000 bond after Deputy Public Defender Ed Hernandez argued that the state lacked probable cause against her. The judge cited the nature of the crime, her criminal history and community safety. She remained at the Downtown jail. Michael Anthony Bustos was booked there without bond on a probation violation tied to a harassment of a public servant case; his bond in the robbery case was set separately at $20,000.
Crime trends differ by agency
The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office reported an increase in robberies in 2025, among five crime categories that rose in its jurisdiction, according to El Paso Matters.
City violent-crime reports declined
Violent crimes reported to El Paso police—including murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults—fell 10% in 2025 from the prior year, El Paso Matters reported. That figure combines several categories and does not isolate how robbery reports changed on their own.
A separate case in 2023 involved two 14-year-old boys whom El Paso police accused of using a handgun during a five-hour carjacking and armed robbery spree, according to the El Paso Times. The spree included robberies at five convenience stores and the carjacking of a 59-year-old man, crossing the Lower Valley, West Side and Upper Valley before ending on the far East Side. The boys faced six counts of aggravated robbery before being handed over to the Juvenile Probation Department.
