Pennsylvania Man Found Guilty of Torture and Illegal Weapons Export

A Pennsylvania man has been convicted in a U.S. courtroom of torturing an employee and illegally exporting weapons.

Pennsylvania man Ross Roggio (Photo: NBC and Ross Roggio/ via Facebook)

Pennsylvania Man Found Guilty

A Pennsylvania man, Ross Roggio, 53, of Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, was hired by Kurdish officials in 2015 to oversee a weapons factory in the Kurdistan region of Iraq.

However, he engaged in brutal acts of torture and violated export control laws, according to the superseding indictment. Prosecutors revealed that Pennsylvania man Roggio directed armed Kurdish soldiers under his command to kidnap an Estonian employee who had expressed concerns about the project.

According to UPI, the soldiers forcibly took the employee from their residences, placed a bag over their heads, and held them captive at a Kurdish military compound for over a month. During this period, the victim endured severe physical and mental suffering.

The court document states that Pennsylvania man Roggio instructed the soldiers to suffocate the employee with a plastic bag until they lost consciousness.

Additionally, the captive was repeatedly subjected to electrocution in various parts of their body, causing severe injuries. The victim’s arms bled, and their hands experienced uncontrollable twitching due to the torture.

Prosecutors also revealed that the victim’s fingers were threatened with cutting using a cutting tool. Rubber hoses were utilized to beat the victim’s back, legs, stomach, and chest.

One of the interrogations led by Pennsylvania man Roggio involved him suspending the victim in the air by wrapping his belt around their neck, causing loss of consciousness. As the victim regained consciousness, a Kurdish soldier, following Roggio’s orders, struck them in the groin with a stick.

The indictment further explained that the employee was tortured and detained to prevent them from exposing the weapons project to individuals and entities outside of Kurdistan. Pennsylvania man Roggio aimed to conceal his inability to produce the weapons and his diversion of funds for personal use from Kurdish officials.

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Pennsylvania Man Faces Torture Charges

Pennsylvania man Roggio was arrested in February 2022 and was found guilty on Friday by a U.S. jury on charges of torture, conspiracy to commit torture, conspiring to commit an offense against the United States, and exporting weapons parts and services to Iraq without the approval of the State Department.

He also faced charges of wire fraud and money laundering.

The U.S. Department of Justice announced Pennsylvania man Roggio’s conviction in a statement released on Monday. Roggio is scheduled to be sentenced on August 23, and he could face a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

Prosecutors highlighted that Pennsylvania man Roggio is the second individual to be convicted of torture since the federal torture statute was enacted in 1994.

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