Seven Colombian nationals have been extradited to the U.S. to face charges relating to the kidnapping and murder of DEA agent James Terry Watson, the Justice Department announced Wednesday.
“With the extradition of these suspects, we are one step closer to ensuring that justice is served for the kidnapping and murder of an American hero,” said Attorney General Eric Holder in a statement. “Special Agent Watson gave his life in the service of his country. We owe him, and his family, a debt of gratitude we can never fully repay.”
The defendants had been indicted by a grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia in Alexandria last July 18.
The defendants included: Gerardo Figueroa Sepulveda, 39; Omar Fabian Valdes Gualtero, 27; Edgar Javier Bello Murillo, 27; Hector Leonardo Lopez, 34; Julio Estiven Gracia Ramirez, 31; and Andrés Alvaro Oviedo-Garcia, 22.
Each were charged with two counts of second degree murder, one count of kidnapping and one count of conspiracy to kidnap. Oviedo-Garcia was also charged with two counts of assault.
Additionally, the Justice Department said in a press release that the grand jury indicted Wilson Daniel Peralta-Bocachica, 31, also a Colombian national, for his alleged efforts to destroy evidence associated with the murder of Special Agent Watson.
The defendants arrived Tuesday in the U.S. and made an initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va. on Wednesday.
The indictment charged that Figueroa, Valdes, Bello, Lopez, Gracia and Oviedo-Garcia were part of a kidnapping and robbery conspiracy that utilized taxi cabs in Bogotá, Colombia, to lure victims into a position where they could be attacked and robbed, the Justice Department said in a press release.
Once an intended victim entered a taxi cab, the driver would signal other conspirators to begin the robbery/kidnapping operation.
On June 20, 2013, while working in Colombia, DEA agent Watson hopped into a taxi cab operated by one of the defendants.
Watson was then attacked by two defendants, one of whom used a stun gun on him and another fatally stabbed him with a knife.
Good news! It is hard to believe that these maggots would kill someone for a small amount of money but human depravity knows no bounds at times. Some justice will be served. I recall years ago that a cab company in Lawton, Oklahoma used to pick up young G.I.s at Fort Sill and set them up. Even in this country dishonest cab drivers can be linked to local/organized crime.