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The second defendant pleads guilty to the kidnapping of two US soldiers in a Bogotá bar in 2020

The second defendant pleads guilty to the kidnapping of two US soldiers in a Bogotá bar in 2020

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Another Colombian pleaded guilty in federal court in Florida on Dec. 11, 2024, to a charge stemming from the 2020 kidnapping of two U.S. soldiers at a bar in Bogotá, Colombia. Pedro José Silva Ochoa, 47, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to kidnap an internationally protected person. (Department of Justice)


A Colombian who helped kidnap two U.S. Army soldiers in Bogotá four years ago became the second person to plead guilty in the case, according to the Justice Department.

Pedro José Silva Ochoa, 47, appeared in federal court in Florida on Wednesday, where he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to kidnap an internationally protected person, the Justice Department said in a statement the same day.

Sentencing is pending for Silva Ochoa, who according to court documents is also known as Tata. The sentencing date is still undetermined, according to the statement. According to court documents, he could face life in prison.

In addition to Silva Ochoa, two other Colombians were charged in the case, Kenny Julieth Uribe Chiran and Jeffersson Arango Castellanos.

Uribe Chirán, the last of the three extradited to the United States, is scheduled to be tried in February. Arango Castellanos was sentenced in May to just under 49 years in prison.

The soldiers were on a mission in Colombia and were watching a soccer game on March 5, 2020, at a bar in Bogotá’s exclusive T zone, according to court documents.

Prosecutors say the soldiers’ drinks laced benzodiazepines, a form of tranquilizer, and the two were taken to a car where Silva Ochoa was waiting, according to court documents.

The three stole their wallets, bank cards, mobile phones and other valuables. A soldier was forced to reveal his PIN to the kidnappers, according to court documents.

After using the cards in various locations, the three “discarded the victims to separate locations in Bogotá, leaving them to fend for themselves in a state of incapacity,” according to court documents.

The unidentified soldiers did not show up for work the next day and were reported missing, court documents show.

One soldier woke up in his apartment with no memory of how he got there, while the other was taken to a clinic after a passerby found him struggling to walk, authorities said.

Evidence suggested the soldiers were sexually assaulted while they were unconscious, but that allegation could not be conclusively proven because of the long delay before their medical examinations, prosecutors told the court during the trial involving Arango Castellanos.