(Montreal) Gary Arnold, a Quebec man convicted of kidnapping an American couple from upstate New York in 2020, was sentenced Monday to 13 years in prison.
Posted at 11:42 am
Montreal Superior Court Justice Michel Pennou clarified Monday that Arnold still has nine years, two months and six days in prison, including time already served in preventive detention.
The Crown sought a 17-year sentence for Arnold, who was found guilty by a jury in February on five counts, including kidnapping, racketeering and conspiracy to kidnap.
During the trial, it was revealed that Arnold was part of a conspiracy to kidnap James and Sandra Helm, a couple in their 70s, from Moira, New York. The lawsuit argued the two Americans, in their seventies, were kidnapped in a drug deal gone awry in which their grandson was involved.
PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, LA PRESSE ARCHIVE
Sandra Helm (centre), one of the victims
The defense had asked for 10 years in prison for Arnold, who argued at his trial that he acted under threat and was unaware of the kidnapping plot.
The Crown claimed the two Americans were kidnapped as a bargaining chip by a group of men who wanted back 100 pounds of cocaine or $3.5 million in cash, since their grandson had been arrested in Vermont six days earlier in possession of the drug.
The Helms had been kidnapped from their home and then smuggled into Canada and held in a cottage in Magog in the Eastern Townships. Two days later, on September 29, 2020, they were finally released safely by the Sûreté du Québec Tactical Intervention Group.