The Sectional Office in Meta of the Attorney General’s Office, in coordination with the Police and the National Army, prosecuted six men and two women allegedly responsible for crimes such as extortion, receiving stolen property and qualified and aggravated theft that were committed between 2022 and 2024 in Villavicencio (Meta).
Christian Camilo Avendaño Castro, Dagoberto Bernal Parrado, Lisbeth Daniela Santana Ramos, Maryi Santana Ramos, Andy Isaac Ardila Alférez and Diego Eduardo Sánchez Valdés were arrested on September 17 on a public road in Meta.
The defendants would be responsible for the theft of motorcycles in which they then demanded between 1,400,000 and 2,500,000 million COP from the owners in exchange for returning the motor vehicles. The economic demands were made through calls and video calls through which they sent photographs of the goods. These facts took place in 2022 and 2023. The judge ordered one prison sentence, two house arrests and three noncustodial measures.
In another incident, the Office of the Attorney General prosecuted Brayan Steven Pérez Valencia and Jorge Mauricio González Molina who were arrested in flagrante delicto in a public establishment in La Rosita neighborhood in Villavicencio. The arrest took place when, apparently, the defendants received a package in which there was money allegedly related to extortion of merchants in the area to avoid be killed.
The investigation showed that the man received phone calls and visits at his store, apparently from the people who are under investigation who stated that they belonged to the armed group GAO Nueva Marquetalia. None of them pleaded guilty to the charges.
The information contained in this press release corresponds to the narration of the objective news provided by the officials in charge of carrying out criminal investigations within the Office of the Attorney General. By the time this communication is disclosed, the legal status of the people mentioned is still pending to be resolved by the competent judicial authority, always under the presumption of innocence contemplated by Article 29 of the Political Constitution and Article 7 of Law 906 of 2004.