United States v. Acevedo, No. 15-1378 (1st Cir. 2016)
Annotate this CaseAcevedo and Vazques seized Doe at gunpoint, pulling him out of a car in Boston. Doe’s family paid the ransom with money marked by the FBI. Agents watched the ransom drop. Vazquez, Moreno, and Acevedo later met to hide the ransom money. They held Doe for several days before he was rescued by the FBI. When Acevedo pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit kidnapping, 18 U.S.C. 1201(c), he acknowledged that he had read the indictment and did not object to its description of the offense. The PSR added that Vazquez, a drug dealer who ran an auto shop, was hired by another drug dealer to kidnap Doe to collect a drug debt, and recruited the others. Cellphone analysis revealed that, for three weeks before the kidnapping and one day after Doe's recovery, Vazquez's and Acevedo's phones made contact 114 times; Moreno's and Acevedo's phones made contact 89 times. The PSR calculated an offense level of 37, including an enhancement for making a ransom demand and another for using a firearm, with a reduction for acceptance of responsibility, yielding a Guidelines imprisonment range of 210-262 months. Acevedo challenged factual details, claimed a "minor role" in the conspiracy, argued the ransom-demand enhancement was "double counting," and challenged the firearm enhancement, arguing that he could not reasonably have foreseen that any co-conspirator would possess a gun. The First Circuit affirmed Acevedo’s 192-month sentence, noting that Acevedo, unlike his co-conspirators, did not cooperate.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.