6 Ex-Police Officers in Mexico Sentenced in American’s Death

Six former Mexico City police officers received sentences of up to 99 years in prison for the death of an American student whom they robbed and forced to drink a bottle of alcohol.

For their roles in the November 1998 death of 27-year-old Frederick McPhail, Francisco Leon Gonzalez was sentenced to 85 years in prison and Lucio Tapia Galindo to 99 years, the Mexico attorney general’s office said. The two were active police officers at the time of the crime.

Their four accomplices were ex-police officers at the time of McPhail’s murder. Three of them were sentenced to 79 years in prison, and the fourth received 68 years, the daily newspaper Reforma said Thursday.

The suspects, sentenced Wednesday, were convicted of murder, robbery, kidnapping and organized crime. The police officers formed a group that allegedly regularly committed crimes against unsuspecting motorists.

Prosecutors charged that the uniformed officers would stop drivers and then turn the motorists over to the civilian accomplices, who robbed the victims of their money and credit cards. The assailants then would force the victims to drink a bottle of alcohol so that they would get drunk and be unable to identify their attackers.

The judge gave the defendants the long sentences to ensure they are not released on probation. However, under the Federal District’s penal code, a person cannot serve more than 50 years in prison.

McPhail was found in his parked car Nov. 18, 1998, dead of alcohol poisoning. A resident of New York City, he had moved to Mexico to continue his studies at the Ibero-American University, Reforma said.