The New York Times
Colombian Men Sentenced in Kidnapping of American
October 25--A federal judge in Manhattan on Monday sentenced two Colombian men involved in the kidnapping of an American citizen in Latin America to at least a decade in prison, and used the court hearing to criticize sentencing guidelines as too rigid.
The defendants, Anderson Chamapuro Dogirama and Alejandro Palacios Rengifo, were sentenced to 10 years and 15 years, by Judge Jed Rakoff of United States District Court.
The two were convicted in June along with a third man, Edilberto Berrio Ortiz, of hostage-taking and conspiracy charges stemming from the 2008 kidnapping in Panama of an American man, whose name has been reported as Cecilio Juan Padrón, by the 57 Front of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. The defendants guarded the victim in a jungle camp for about 10 months until the victim’s family paid a ransom and secured his release.
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