State v. Amar Julio Barrera, C-08-CR-25-000591
LA PLATA, MD— Tony Covington, State’s Attorney for Charles County, announced that on Tuesday, October 20, 2026, Charles County Circuit Court Judge Makeba Gibbs sentenced Amar Julio Barrera, 44, to 10 years in prison for Home Invasion, Kidnapping, and related charges. Barrera will be on supervised probation for a period of five years after his release. If he violates the terms of his probation, he faces a potential 45 years in prison.
On March 20, 2026, a Charles County jury found Barrera guilty of the above charges.
On September 25, 2025, officers with Charles County Sheriff’s Office responded to the University of Maryland Charles Regional Medical Center for a reported assault. Upon arrival, officers made contact with the victim in the emergency room lobby. The victim had visible facial injuries and reported that he had been assaulted and kidnapped at his residence on September 23, 2025.
An investigation revealed that during the evening hours of September 23, 2025, the victim was inside his residence when Barrera and three other co-defendants, including Samantha Lynn Hergett, a relative of the victim, entered the house. The victim was physically assaulted by two of the male co-defendants and attempted to defend himself. During the assault, Barrera tased the victim leaving him incapacitated. The co-defendants then dragged the victim from the home, bound his wrists and ankles, and placed him in the back seat of a white Ford F-150 driven by Barrera.
The victim was transported to Hergett’s house in Clinton, where he was restrained and beaten by the two male co-defendants. Barrera and the two males threatened to kill the victim and his family if he attempted to leave. On September 25, 2025, the victim was picked up by another relative and brought back to Charles County. The victim’s mother then took him to the hospital for treatment of his injuries.
Text message exchanges showed that Barrera planned the home invasion and kidnapping. He coordinated the attack with Hergett, who was also his girlfriend, and his two other co-defendants, believing the victim had taken his property.
On March 23, 2026, Hergett pled guilty to Conspiracy to Commit Kidnapping and was sentenced to 8 years in prison on April 15, 2026.
At Barrera’s sentencing, Assistant State’s Attorney Jonathan Beattie, requesting 60 years in prison, told the judge that what the victim experienced was “torture.” He furthered, “This case does not happen but for Mr. Barrera. He’s the driving force for it to occur. You cannot engage in self-help like this. There was never a good ending for this.”
Prior to sentencing Barrera for 10 years in prison, the Honorable Judge Gibbs told him, “These actions were violent, senseless, cruel, and terrorizing. You made a very bad choice. [You attempted] to teach a grown man a lesson. When you resort to self-help, things can get out of hand. You terrorized this young man and there is no legal justification for it.”
Sentence
Count 1 – Home Invasion
- 25 years suspend all but 10 years
Count 3 – Kidnapping
- 30 years with all suspended
- Consecutive to Count 1
Count 7 – Conspiracy to Commit Kidnapping
- 30 years with all suspended
- Concurrent to Count 3
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