Avelino Gonzalez-Claudio hardly looked the part of a notorious leader of a violent Puerto Rico pro-independence group that pulled off a $7.1 million heist of a West Hartford Wells Fargo depot more than 25 years ago.
The 67-year-old grandfather appeared frail as he shuffled slowly into U.S. District Court on Wednesday dressed in an ill-fitting orange prison jumpsuit. His hands, clasped together, shook uncontrollably at times as he was sentenced to seven years in prison for his role in the robbery â?? and ordered to pay back the money.
In arguing for the sentence, federal prosecutors cautioned that although Gonzalez-Claudio's advanced age and recently diagnosed Parkinson's disease might keep him from violent crimes, he still could be influential as a key figure in the Los Macheteros organization, a clandestine group that advocates the use of violence to win Puerto Rico's independence from the United States.
They questioned whether he would resume his association with the group after his release from prison.
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