La Altagracia.-The Public Ministry presented criminal charges against members of a family from the province of La Altagracia who were dedicated to kidnapping, extortion, bribery and money laundering.
The defendants Ambiórix Vásquez Severino, Etefany Esmerlin Ramírez Pérez, Manuel Acosta (Angonga), Jhan Carlos Rivera Martínez, Tairi Vásquez Severino and Ruth Delanea Severino Santana, formed a criminal network for the kidnapping, torture and extortion of their victims, according to the Public Ministry.
The network was confronted by the Specialized Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing Prosecutor’s Office and the La Altagracia Prosecutor’s Office, with the technical support of the Anti-Kidnapping Unit of the General Directorate of Prosecution of the Public Ministry.
Kidnapping
The defendants, pretending to be agents of the National Drug Control Directorate (DNCD), kidnapped a 47-year-old person in the La Otra Banda community, of Higüey, La Altagracia province.
Carrying clothing and long weapons, the alleged kidnappers kidnapped the victim, whom they allegedly arrested and took him to a hidden place on the Miches highway, where they held him for four days, torturing him and requesting 20 million pesos from his relatives in exchange for his ransom.
The investigation carried out by the prosecution body was able to determine that the accused, with the proceeds from the kidnapping, acquired high-end vehicles, clothing of high economic value and handled large sums of money, with which the accused Ruth Delanea Severino Santana, mother of the ringleaders of the network, according to the Public Ministry, tried to bribe members of the National Police.
Severino Santana was arrested in flagrante delicto by members of the Anti-Kidnapping Unit of the National Police, when she was delivering, at a fuel station in San Pedro de Macorís, the sum of RD$400,000, with the purpose of not leaving traces of the subjugation of her family.
The criminal accusation fully meets the requirements to obtain a conviction in this case, explained the court attorney Ramona Nova, head of the Anti-Laundering Prosecutor’s Office, and Claudia Garrido, prosecutor of La Altagracia.
They indicated that the accusation is based on credible evidence, obtained in accordance with Dominican criminal procedural regulations, based on the chain of custody, documentary records, corroborated testimonies and expert reports that prove the authorship and participation of the accused.
“The investigation was carried out with technical rigor and respect for procedural guarantees, which grants full evidentiary validity to the elements presented to the court,” said Ramona Nova, who highlighted the institutional commitment of the Public Ministry to confront organized crime.
For their part, investigative prosecutors Claudio Cordero and Surielly Guerrero highlighted the evidence collected, the agreement of the testimonies and the existence of sufficient evidence regarding the joint participation of those involved.
The Public Ministry is awaiting the setting of the preliminary hearing by the Investigative Court of the Judicial District of La Altagracia.
Bribery
400 thousand pesos.
He would deliver one of those involved as a bribe to members of the National Police who arrested her.
