Second man guilty in Colombian drugging, kidnapping of US soldiers

The second of three defendants charged in the drugging and kidnapping of two U.S. Army soldiers in Colombia in 2020 pleaded guilty in federal court recently.

Pedro Jose Silva Ochoa, 47, of Bogota, Colombia, also known as “Tata,” pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge connected to the kidnapping. As of Monday, a sentencing date had not been set, according to a prosecutor’s release.

Prosecutors said that Ochoa, along with two other individuals, targeted two U.S. soldiers who they encountered at a local bar while watching a soccer game.

Colombian man extradited on charges he drugged, kidnapped U.S. soldiers

What the two soldiers thought would be a night of drinking instead resulted in the pair being drugged and robbed, with one winding up in the hospital and the other back at his apartment with almost no memory of the previous night.

Court documents did not list the soldiers’ names or to which unit they are assigned. The pair was on temporary duty in the country at the time of the incident.

The United States extradited Jeffersson Arango Castellanos, 37, from Colombia in May 2023. Authorities extradited Kenny Julieth Uribe Chiran, 35, of Bogota, in September. Officials extradited Ochoa from Chile in May.

Castellanos pleaded guilty in January to charges of conspiracy, kidnapping and assault of an internationally protected person, according to court documents.

A federal judge sentenced him to 48 years in prison.

Chiran’s trial is scheduled for November. If convicted, she could be sentenced to up to 20 years.

Castellanos approached the two soldiers in the early morning hours, according to a Colombian National Police investigation that included video surveillance footage described in court documents.

He then spiked the soldiers’ drinks with benzodiazepines, a class of drugs that causes drowsiness and incapacitation.

As one of the soldiers went up to a woman at the bar at 1:46 a.m., Castellanos stepped in, putting his hand on the soldier’s shoulder and leading him to the back of the bar, according to court documents.

About 20 minutes later, the soldier stumbled toward the bar’s exit with Castellanos following behind him.

Castellanos then went back to the bar around 2:24 a.m. to escort the similarly drugged second soldier out of the bar with two other individuals, according to the Justice Department.

One of the other defendants got into a vehicle with the two soldiers, and the group drove around the city while Castellanos visited multiple ATM booths, withdrawing cash from the debit cards he’d stolen from the soldiers, records show.

The three defendants eventually let the soldiers go. One of the soldiers fell, striking his face. Police arrived and transported the soldier to a medical facility. The other soldier made it back to his lodging but had no memory of how he got there.