A Colombian man has copped to the kidnapping and roughing up of two U.S. Army soldiers while they were out on the town in Bogota, according to the Justice Department. Jefferson Arango Castellanos, 36, entered his guilty plea in a Miami federal court, owning up to the 2020 abduction in which he and his crew drugged the soldiers, swiped their wallets, and made merry with their plastic.
The military duo, in Colombia on temporary duty, were blindsided in a pub when Arango and his accomplices slipped benzodiazepines into their drinks, leading to a night of incapacitation and subsequent thievery where the kidnappers plundered their credit cards and cell phones and withdrew cash, as per court documents. The soldiers regained consciousness the next day, separated, and without memories of the ordeal.
Arango's guilty charges include kidnapping an internationally protected person and assault; the sentencing date is yet unscheduled, but it's assured that the judge will weigh the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines alongside other factors before dropping the hammer. In May 2023, after Colombia honored the U.S. extradition request, American and Colombian law enforcement teamed up to reel Arango in, a collaboration highlighted by the Justice Department's Office of International Affairs and the FBI's Miami Field Office.
The Justice Department announced the guilty plea, with U.S. Attorney Markenzy Lapointe, Acting Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, and FBI Special Agent Jeffrey B. Veltri front-lining the announcement, Bertila L. Fernandez and the Criminal Division's Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section's attorneys are spearheading the prosecution, drawing a close to an international crime saga that's rattled U.S.-Colombia relations.
