Ex-US soldier gets consecutive life sentences for killing couple to fund Venezuela mercenary fighting plans

A former U.S. soldier who fought in Ukraine was sentenced to two life terms for killing a Florida couple during a robbery intended to fund his travel to Venezuela to fight the government of Nicolás Maduro, the Justice Department said Tuesday.

Craig Austin Lang, 35, was convicted in September on federal charges, including robbery and conspiring to kill persons in a foreign country. He was previously extradited from Ukraine, where he had volunteered to fight against Russian separatists.

"Lang’s alleged conduct is shocking in its scope and its callous disregard for human life," Nicole Argentieri, principal deputy assistant attorney general of the Department of Justice’s criminal division, previously said in a statement.

EX-ARMY SERGEANT SENTENCED FOR TRYING TO GIVE STATE SECRETS TO CHINA AFTER MENTAL HEALTH SPIRAL

Lang and another former soldier, Alex Jared Zwiefelhofer, killed Serafin "Danny" Lorenzo Jr. and Deana Lorenzo, who traveled from Brooksville to Estero, in April 2018 during what the couple believe...