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Avelino González-Claudio is a Puerto Rican independence activist serving time in a U.S. federal prison for his participation in an armored truck robbery planned by Los Macheteros.[1] Although the robbery took place in 1983, González-Claudio was not apprehended until 2008. After pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit robbery, González-Claudio was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2010.
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On September 12, 1983, a Wells Fargo armored truck in Hartford, Connecticut, was robbed of more than $7 million. The robbery, code-named "White Eagle" , was "the largest cash heist in U.S. history" at the time of its commission.[2][3]
In 1985, González-Claudio was accused in absentia of having planned the robbery as a member of Los Macheteros. González-Claudio was apprehended in 2008, after more than 20 years as a fugitive and during which time he had adopted an alias that allowed him to work as a teacher in Puerto Rico.[3] He pleaded guilty to conspiracy for robbery and, in 2010, was sentenced to seven years in prison.[4][5] Prosecutors argued for the necessity of a substantial sentence in spite of González-Claudio's age and Parkinson's Disease, fearing that he could still be influential in the Los Macheteros organization, as authorities had found in February 2008 "documents in Gonzalez-Claudio's home that they say showed he was still involved with the group."[6] Gonzalez-Claudio's projected prison release date is October 8, 2012.[7]