4 Men Receive Life Terms in ’86 Kidnaping

Four men, two of whom were described as international bandits wanted on several continents, have been sentenced to life without possibility of parole for kidnaping two North Hollywood men and holding them for ransom.

Refugio Castillo, 41, Jose Fernandez Garcia, 35, and Pedro Garces Ramirez, all Peruvians; and Byron Robert Mendizaval, 28, of Guatemala, were sentenced Tuesday by San Fernando Superior Court Judge Howard J. Schwab.

The four were convicted Feb. 17 after a 5 1/2-month trial on two counts each of kidnaping and robbery and one count each of conspiracy to kidnap for ransom. A fifth defendant was acquitted. Another suspect, Luis Larriva, 40, was fatally shot by police.

The charges stemmed from the Nov. 20, 1986, abductions of two Colombian men.

Blamed for Crime Wave

“It is a sentence which you have truly earned,” Schwab said to the men Tuesday. “Mr. Garcia is an international criminal who was responsible for a crime wave on three continents, and Mr. Castillo was an international criminal wanted on two continents.”

Deputy Dist. Atty. Kenneth A. Loveman said the kidnapers falsely believed that the victims, who were not identified during the trial, were wealthy drug dealers.

Interpol records, requested by Loveman, said Garcia was wanted by Spanish and Peruvian authorities on charges of drug smuggling, fraud, theft, forgery and possession of falsified documents. Castillo and Larriva were wanted in Peru for drug smuggling, according to Interpol documents.

Witnesses testified during the trial that the two victims were abducted in the laundry room of their North Hollywood apartment and taken to a home in West Covina, where they were kept tied up in a closet. One of the victims was beaten regularly, witnesses said. The kidnapers also threatened to rape and kill him, according to testimony.

One of the men, identified during the proceedings only as “Jesus,” was released after a ransom demand yielded only $8,000, authorities said. The kidnapers demanded that he come up with $80,000 and two kilograms of cocaine for release of the other person, authorities said. Jesus contacted police, who monitored phone calls from the kidnapers.

Police captured the men nine days after the abductions, authorities said.

Castillo was arrested and Larriva shot while attempting to flee from a Safeway parking lot in the 4500 block of Sunset Boulevard. Garcia was arrested while making a phone call in the same mall. The others were arrested when Castillo led police back to the house where the hostage was being held.

In addition to their life sentences without parole, Castillo received seven years in prison and Garcia, nine years in prison. Mendizaval and Ramirez were sentenced to one additional year each.