A Colombian national, Jeffersson Arango Castellanos, was sentenced this week to nearly 49 years in prison for drugging, kidnapping and assaulting two U.S. soldiers in Bogota in 2020. He was extradited from Colombia last year to face charges in a U.S. court. (Dominique A. Pineiro/U.S. Navy)
A Colombian who in 2020 orchestrated the kidnapping and assault of two U.S. soldiers on assignment in Bogota was sentenced this week to just shy of 49 years in prison, according to the Justice Department.
Jeffersson Arango Castellanos, 36, who court documents say is also known as Harry Potter, targeted the soldiers along with co-conspirators Kenny Julieth Uribe-Chiran and Pedro Jose Silva-Ochoa, who also were named in the indictment.
The sentence handed down Thursday by a federal court in Florida was 48 years and nine months. A Justice Department statement the same day did not provide updates on the status of Uribe-Chiran and Silva-Ochoa.
Arango Castellanos pleaded guilty in January to charges including kidnapping, conspiracy to kidnap, assault and conspiracy to assault internationally protected persons.
On March 5, 2020, the unidentified soldiers were visiting a bar in Zona T, an upscale entertainment district, to watch a soccer game and dance, according to court documents.
The three men drugged the soldiers’ drinks with tranquilizers and then took them to Silva-Ochoa’s car, the DOJ statement said.
The trio stole their phones, wallets and bank cards, then coerced one soldier into divulging his PIN, court documents show.
Prosecutors described Arango Castellanos as “an experienced professional in kidnapping and assaulting people.”
After using the cards at assorted places, the men “discarded the victims in separate locations in Bogota, leaving them to fend for themselves in an incapacitated state,” according to the court documents.
Their absence was immediately noted when they failed to report for duty the next day. One was found in his apartment with no memory of how he got there.
The other was spotted by a passer-by struggling to walk and subsequently taken to a clinic by police.
Tests confirmed the presence of benzodiazepines, tranquilizers that produce sedation and hypnosis, according to federal authorities.
Evidence suggested that the soldiers were sexually assaulted while unconscious, but that allegation could not be conclusively proved because of the long delay before their medical examinations, prosecutors told the court.
One soldier called the ordeal “devastating,” saying the long-term consequences included mental health problems, difficulty sleeping, a divorce and a shortened military career, resulting in a $200,000 loss.
Arango Castellanos and Uribe-Chiran were arrested in Colombia in December 2020 for similar crimes unrelated to the soldiers’ case.
In an interview with an FBI agent, Arango Castellanos admitted what he’d done, authorities said. He was extradited to the U.S. in May 2023.
