The Nation
Man sentenced in 1968 hijacking
Posted: Jan 4, 2011 10:23 AM by Greg Boyce
NEW YORK (AP) - A U.S. citizen convicted of hijacking a plane from New York to Cuba four decades ago has been sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Luis Armando Pena Soltren was sentenced Tuesday in federal court in Manhattan. Authorities say he and co-defendants brought pistols and knives
aboard a plane in a diaper bag in November 1968. The pilots were forced to divert Puerto Rico-bound Pan American Flight 281 from Kennedy Airport to Havana. The flight was carrying 103 passengers and crew.
Pena Soltren returned to the United States from Cuba in 2009 to face charges of conspiracy to commit air piracy, interfering with a flight crew and kidnapping. He pleaded guilty in March.
Pena Soltren's lawyer says his client had wanted to come back for decades because he was remorseful.
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