Puerto Ricans Get Stiff Terms in $7-Million Theft

Three Puerto Rican nationalists received maximum sentences of up to 15 years in prison Thursday for their roles in a $7.1-million Wells Fargo robbery in 1983.

But one of them, Roberto Maldonado Rivera, a civil rights attorney from Puerto Rico, was released on $200,000 bond pending appeal of his conviction on a conspiracy charge. Maldonado, 53, had been free on the same bond prior to his sentencing.

Has High Blood Pressure

U.S. District Judge T. Emmet Clarie agreed to a bond after expressing concern about Maldonado’s high blood pressure and acknowledging that grounds exist for an appeal. Earlier, the judge had sentenced Maldonado to five years in prison and fined him $100,000.

The defendant receiving the stiffest penalty was Antonio Camacho Negron, a 45-year-old auto mechanic. He was given a 15-year prison term and was fined $150,000 on a conspiracy count and a charge of assisting in the transfer of some of the stolen cash to Mexico.

The third man, Norman Ramirez Talavera, a 32-year-old graphic artist convicted on a conspiracy charge, received a five-year prison term and was fined $50,000.

Like Maldonado, Camacho and Ramirez told the court that they will appeal.

“I struggled for the liberty of Puerto Rico,” said Camacho, who strode into the courtroom with his fist raised and wearing a red carnation. His supporters, including his wife, also stood with raised fists.

The judge rejected the political argument, just as he had throughout the trial. “There is no right to rob money,” Clarie said. “It is a crime throughout the world. No one has been charged because of his political views.”

The three defendants, who were convicted on April 10, were said to be members of a militant Puerto Rican separatist group, Los Macheteros. Members of the organization are accused of arranging the Sept. 12, 1983, theft of a half-ton of money from a Wells Fargo depot in West Hartford to finance their activities.

A former Wells Fargo security guard, Victor Gerena, is accused of taking the money, only $80,000 of which has been recovered. He is believed to be in Cuba.