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    - In December 2019, the three suspects were extradited from Spain to Costa Rica / Photo via Guardia Civil de España - |
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Published on Monday,
April 4,
2022
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The Prosecutor's Office against Drug Trafficking and Related Crimes requested before the Criminal Court of San José, prison against the suspects in the kidnapping and murder of U.S. citizen William Sea Creighton Kopko, who owned a sportsbook located in San Pedro, San José.
Before this hearing, on Feb. 25, another of the suspects, a man surnamed Ford-Dowman, accepted his guilt in the accusations made by the Prosecutor. He was sentenced to 33 years in prison.
The rest of the defendants declared themself as innocent so the trial continues for them. They were identified with the surnames Morales-Vega, two people with the last name Vega-Aguirre, Martínez-Chacón, Solís-Chaves, Sanabria-Abarca, Aguirre-Leal, Jirón- López and Medrano-Vargas.
The prosecutor requested that those defendants be sentenced to 50 years in prison for the crime of kidnapping, plus 15 years in prison for the crime of aggravated robbery and 10 years in prison for the crime of assembling a gang to commit a crime.
To another defendant, surnamed Sánchez-Gamboa, the prosecutor requested four years in prison for helping the gang commit the crime.
According to the indictment, the suspects knew that the victim's family possessed a high income (generated by the Creighton company). They had planned to kidnap the U.S. citizen, and asking for $5 million or its equivalent in bitcoins as payment for his release.
"It is believed that to achieve the plan, the defendants carried out actions such as surveillance and follow-up of the victim," the Prosecutor's Office said in their statement.
According to the investigations, it is presumed that on September 24, 2018, at approximately 9:45 p.m., the defendants traveled in two cars to surveil Creighton.
It is presumed that two gang members, Jirón-López and Medrano-Vargas, who were working as Traffic Police officers, were traveling on their official motorcycles (assigned to do their police duties) and followed Creighton. The victim was traveling in his car, from his work, located in San Pedro District, heading towards Curridabat Canton, both places in San José Province.
When Creighton was traveling near Montes de Oca, he was intercepted by Jirón and Medrano, who, using their position as Traffic Police officers, managed to get the U.S. Citizen to pull over.
Allegedly, the other defendants, who were nearby, arrived at the scene and presumably, threatened Creighton with weapons and hit him. Then they took the victim to Aguirre-Leal's house, located in Moravia Canton, to hide him.
According
to the Prosecutor's Office, one
of the gang members, Ford, stole
the victim's car to get rid of
the evidence. He is the same man
who was convicted in February
after he declared himself guilty
of driving Creighton's car to
Heredia Province, where he
crashed and escaped from the
scene. Then,
allegedly, the defendants began
to contact people close to the
victim, asking for rescue
payment or otherwise they would
kill Creighton. He was to
receive $950,800 in bitcoins on
September 25, 2018. To
avoid being discovered, the
suspects killed Creighton, took
his body to Quepos Beach in
Puntarenas Province, and hid his
body in the municipal cemetery,
Prosecutor said. On
September 27, 2018, the
defendant Morales-Vega traveled
to Panama and then Cuba, where
he remained in hiding. He
traveled to Spain on November 9,
2018. It
is suspected that Morales-Vega
rented a place that would allow
him to hide in Spain, along with
two other defendants,
Solís-Chaves and Vega-Aguirre. Allegedly,
two other defendants,
Aguirre-Leal and Sánchez Gamboa
received part of the money and
proceeded to pay the rest of the
suspects. In
January 2019, with the
cooperation of Spanish
authorities, the three suspects
were arrested. While in Costa
Rica, agents of the Judicial
Investigation Organization
detained the remaining suspects In
December 2019, the three
suspects were extradited from
Spain to Costa Rica. In
September 2019, Creighton's body
was found in the Quepos Beach
cemetery. According to the
report, the cause of death was
homicide due to suffocation. The
trial will continue this week
with the suspects' defense
arguments. Then, the Criminal
Court will set the trial
resolution day. ---------------   
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