Colombian ‘Harry Potter’ sentenced for drugging, kidnapping, robbing 2 U.S. Army soldiers in Bogotá

Colombian authorities released this photo of Jeffersson Arango Castellanos who was sentenced to over 48 years in prison on Thursday at the Wilkie D. Ferguson Jr. U.S. Courthouse in downtown Miami. (Office of the Attorney General of Colombia, Google Street View)

MIAMI – Jeffersson “Harry Potter” Arango was a member of the Tomaseros, a former Colombian gang that drugged and kidnapped robbery victims in the entertainment districts of Bogotá— and was hunted down after they targeted the wrong men.

Records show two U.S. Army soldiers, who were on temporary duty at the U.S. Embassy, were not wearing their uniforms when they went to the Colombian Pub, a bar in Bogotá's Zona T, to watch a soccer game.

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The Tomaseros targeted them and it cost them. Over four years later, in a federal courtroom in Miami, Arango, now 36, was sentenced on Thursday to 48 years and nine months in federal prison for his role in the 2020 heist.

Records show one of the soldiers didn’t get home on March 5, 2020. Colombian police officers found him ill and disoriented on March 6, 2020, and took him to a clinic where a toxicology screening tested positive for benzodiazepines.

The Colombian prosecution released an image showing when a member of the Tomaseros abandoned an unconscious robbery victim in Bogotá. (FISCALIA GENERAL DE LA NACION)

Arango’s accomplices, according to investigators, were a woman identified in records as Kenny “Hellen” Uribe, and two men identified as Himmer “Sobrino” Aguirre and Pedro “Tata” Silva.

The bruised U.S. soldiers lost their phones and wallets with debit and credit cards. The Tomaseros separated them, made purchases, and withdrew money from ATMs. FBI Miami field office agents investigated the case.

Arango was extradited from Colombia to the U.S. and appeared in court on May 5, 2023, in Miami. He pleaded guilty to kidnapping an internationally protected person, conspiracy to kidnap an internationally protected person, assaulting an internationally protected person, and conspiracy to assault an internationally protected person on Jan. 26.

During his extradition, FBI agents escorted Silva, 47, who had been hiding in Chile. He appeared in court on April 18, in Miami. He is facing charges of kidnapping an internationally protected person, conspiracy to kidnap an internationally protected person, assaulting an internationally protected person, and conspiracy to assault an internationally protected person.

If convicted, Silva faces a maximum penalty of life in prison.


About the Author
Andrea Torres headshot

The Emmy Award-winning journalist joined the Local 10 News team in 2013. She wrote for the Miami Herald for more than 9 years and won a Green Eyeshade Award.

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