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Thursday, April 18, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Three Men Sentenced for DEA Agent’s Murder

(CN) - Three Colombian nationals have been sentenced to 20 years or more in prison for the kidnapping and murder of a federal agent in Bogota, Colombia, last year.

Hector Leonardo Lopez, Julio Estiven Gracia Ramírez, and Andres Alvaro Oviedo García, previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to kidnap and aiding and abetting the murder of DEA Special Agent James "Terry" Watson in Bogota on June 20, 2013.

On Friday, U.S. District Judge Gerald Bruce Lee sentenced Lopez to 25 years, Gracia Ramírez to 27 years, and Oviedo García to 20 years.

Two other men have also pleaded guilty to involvement with the crime. On Dec. 9, 2014, Edwin Gerardo Figueroa Sepúlveda, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to kidnap and aiding and abetting the murder of an internationally protected person, and on Friday, Wilson Daniel Peralta-Bocachica pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice.

Both men are scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 18, 2015.

In statements filed with their plea agreements, the men admitted luring Watson into a taxi with plans to take him on a so-called "millionaire's ride" where he would be forced to withdraw cash from ATM machines. One of the men then stabbed Watson, while another stunned him with a Taser.

Although Watson was able to escape from his captors, he later died of his stab wounds.

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