US seeks max sentence for ex-Guatemalan soldier

[September 15, 2010]  FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) -- Federal prosecutors are seeking the maximum 10-year sentence for a former Guatemalan soldier who falsely claimed no role in a 1982 massacre.

A federal judge in Florida is scheduled Wednesday to sentence 54-year-old Gilberto Jordan. Jordan pleaded guilty to falsely denying on U.S. citizenship forms that he was ever in the military and denied committing any crimes.

In 1982, court documents show Jordan was part of an elite Guatemalan unit that targeted anti-government guerrillas. The massacre took place in December 1982 in the town of Dos Erres, where 162 people including women and infants were killed.

Court papers say Jordan admitted to U.S. investigators taking part in the massacre, including tossing a baby into a well.

[Associated Press; By CURT ANDERSON]

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