Pa. man gets 7 decades in prison for torturing employee, exporting illegal weapon parts

A Pennsylvania man has been sentenced to serve 70 years in prison after being convicted of torturing an Estonian citizen in 2015 in the Kurdistan region of Iraq and for the illegal export of weapons parts and related services.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Ross Roggio, 55, of Stroudsburg, arranged for Kurdish soldiers to abduct and detain the victim at a Kurdish military compound, where Roggio suffocated the victim with a belt, threatened to cut off one of his fingers.

Officials said that Roggio "also directed Kurdish soldiers to repeatedly beat, choke, tase, and otherwise physically and mentally abuse the victim over a 39-day period."

The victim, officials said, was an employee at a weapons factory that Roggio was developing in the Kurdistan region of Iraq that was intended to manufacture automatic rifles and pistols.

“The sentence imposed by the Court demonstrates the seriousness of Ross Roggio’s crimes and brings some measure of justice for his torture victim,” said U.S. Attorney Gerard M. Karam in a statement. “Violence against the dignity and human rights of any victim cannot be tolerated and our office will continue to prioritize and pursue those who would do so in violation of federal law. Ross Roggio was also convicted of United States export laws related to illegally producing firearms in Kurdistan, Iraq. Though more technical in nature, these laws are no less important and are designed to take into account human rights considerations on a larger scale, to limit access to our most sensitive technologies and weapons, and to promote regional stability. I commend all the prosecutors and law enforcement agents who worked tirelessly to bring justice in this matter.”

Officials also said that, in connection with the weapons factory project, Roggio exported firearms parts and tools without the required approvals by the U.S. Departments of State and Commerce.

He also illegally trained foreign persons in the operation, assembly, and manufacturing of the M4 automatic rifle, officials said.

Last year, a federal jury convicted Roggio of 33 counts of torture, conspiracy to commit torture, conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States, exporting weapons parts and services to Iraq without the approval of the State Department, exporting weapons tools to Iraq without the approval of the Commerce Department, smuggling goods, wire fraud, and money laundering.

Roggio was the second defendant to be convicted of torture since the federal torture statute went into effect in 1994, officials noted on Tuesday.

The FBI and HSI investigated the torture and were joined in the investigation of the arms export violations by the Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry and Security, Office of Export Enforcement, according to officials.