"He had been contacted with a $100,000 extortion threat, ostensibly by a now-defunct group of left-wing communist guerrilla fighters, to pay up or his family would be harmed, according to court records. "Desperate to raise the money demanded by the guerillas, after the Colombian authorities failed to even try to protect his family from them, Mr. Toro agreed to act as the middle-man in a conspiracy to import cocaine for distribution into the United States that turned out to be a sting operation," a defense sentencing memo says."
"In custody since his arrest in 2024, and despite pleas from his daughters to remember the grandfather acted "out of desperation, not malice," U.S. District Judge Rita Lin sentenced Toro-Marin to four years in federal prison. Prosecutors had asked for even more than that, arguing a 57-month sentence would be "sufficient but not greater than necessary to reflect the seriousness" of what he did, according to court records."
Jose Julian Toro-Marin agreed to act as a middleman to smuggle 22 kilograms of cocaine from Colombia and met an undercover federal agent during a planned face-to-face meeting. He received a $100,000 extortion demand from a now-defunct left-wing communist guerrilla group threatening harm to his family. Colombian authorities did not protect his family, and he sought money to pay the extortion. He worked with unnamed associates and confidential informants over several months and participated in planning including a Bogota meeting on July 2, 2024 to ship the drugs. He was arrested in 2024, held in custody, and sentenced to four years in federal prison. Prosecutors sought a 57-month sentence.
Read at The Mercury News
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