https://www.stripes.com/news/former...n-in-ninja-work-murder-for-hire-case-1.572125
BY LARRY NEUMEISTER | Associated Press | Published: March 11, 2019
NEW YORK — A former U.S. soldier known as Rambo who became a mercenary for drug dealers was sentenced to life in prison last week by a judge who cited his "truly horrific crimes."
Joseph Hunter, 53, a onetime Army sergeant from Owensboro, Kentucky, with a Special Forces background, was sentenced on Thursday by U.S. District Judge Ronnie Abrams in Manhattan.
She said he carried out his crimes, including arranging the February 2012 murder of a real estate agent in the Philippines, for money. Prosecutors said Hunter was working as a security chief for weapons and drug trafficker Paul Le Roux when he recruited two other former soldiers to travel from their homes in Roxboro, N.C., to the Philippines for what was called "ninja work."
The judge said she had never before seen such a "total and complete lack of respect for human life."
Abrams said Hunter had "planned and committed truly horrific crimes" and then spoke of kidnapping, torture and assassination to recruits as if "it was a business, plain and simple."
"I was struck by how matter-of-fact it was," said the judge, who recalled re-watching videos introduced at trial of Hunter instructing recruits as she prepared for the sentencing.
BY LARRY NEUMEISTER | Associated Press | Published: March 11, 2019
NEW YORK — A former U.S. soldier known as Rambo who became a mercenary for drug dealers was sentenced to life in prison last week by a judge who cited his "truly horrific crimes."
Joseph Hunter, 53, a onetime Army sergeant from Owensboro, Kentucky, with a Special Forces background, was sentenced on Thursday by U.S. District Judge Ronnie Abrams in Manhattan.
She said he carried out his crimes, including arranging the February 2012 murder of a real estate agent in the Philippines, for money. Prosecutors said Hunter was working as a security chief for weapons and drug trafficker Paul Le Roux when he recruited two other former soldiers to travel from their homes in Roxboro, N.C., to the Philippines for what was called "ninja work."
The judge said she had never before seen such a "total and complete lack of respect for human life."
Abrams said Hunter had "planned and committed truly horrific crimes" and then spoke of kidnapping, torture and assassination to recruits as if "it was a business, plain and simple."
"I was struck by how matter-of-fact it was," said the judge, who recalled re-watching videos introduced at trial of Hunter instructing recruits as she prepared for the sentencing.
