‘Rambo’ mercenary Joseph Hunter, US Army sniper who became hired killer for Asian drug lord, gets life sentence for Philippines murder
- Joseph Hunter, a former special forces soldier, was sentenced in New York for the ‘truly horrific’ killing of real property agent Catherine Lee in 2012
- Hunter recruited two other American ex-soldiers to travel from North Carolina to the Philippines for what was called ‘ninja work’ – the killing of Lee
A former US soldier known as Rambo who became a mercenary for drug dealers in Southeast Asia has been sentenced to life in prison by a judge who cited his “truly horrific crimes.”
Joseph Hunter, a one-time sergeant from Kentucky with a special forces background, was sentenced Thursday by US District Judge Ronnie Abrams in Manhattan.
She said he carried out his crimes, including arranging the 2012 murder of a real property agent in the Philippines, for money.
The life prison sentence was mandatory. Hunter, listed with the alias “Rambo” in an indictment, is serving a 20-year prison term after another conviction.
Prosecutors say Hunter tortured, kidnapped and killed people for years along with other former soldiers.
The judge says she was struck by the matter-of-fact manner in which they killed.
Hunter, a former US Army sniper was arrested by Thai police commandos in Bangkok in 2013.
Prosecutors said Hunter, 53, was working as a security chief for weapons and drug trafficker Paul Le Roux when he recruited two other American ex-soldiers to travel from North Carolina to the Philippines for what was called “ninja work”.
Hunter provided firearms and silencers and told them Le Roux would pay them US$35,000 each to get the job done, Assistant US Attorney Patrick Egan said in federal court in Manhattan last July.
The real property agent, Catherine Lee, was on a “kill list”, Egan said.
Lee was shot twice in the face as she sat in the back seat of a van, outside Manila, he said.
Her body was found on a pile of garbage on the side of the road, Egan said.
