A federal jury convicted a Monroe Couny man last week of numerous crimes, including the torture of an Estonian citizen in 2015 in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, in connection with the operation of an illegal weapons manufacturing plant in Kurdistan.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Ross Roggio, 54, of Stroudsburg, arranged for Kurdish soldiers to abduct and detain the victim at a Kurdish military compound where Roggio suffocated the victim with a belt, threatened to cut off one of his fingers, and directed Kurdish soldiers to repeatedly beat, tase, choke, and otherwise physically and mentally abuse the victim over a 39-day period. The victim was employed at a weapons factory that Roggio was developing in the Kurdistan region of Iraq that was intended to manufacture M4 automatic rifles and Glock 9 mm pistols.

In connection with the weapons factory, which included Roggio providing training to foreign people in the operation, assembly and manufacturing of the M4 automatic rifle, Roggio also illegally exported firearm parts that were controlled for export by the Departments of State and Commerce.

“Roggio brutally tortured another human to prevent interference with his illegal activities,” said Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.

Roggio was convicted of torture, conspiracy to commit torture, conspiring to commit an offense against the United States, exporting weapons parts and services to Iraq without the approval of the U.S. Department of State, exporting weapons tools to Iraq without the approval of the U.S. Department of Commerce, smuggling goods, wire fraud, and money laundering.

He is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 23, and faces a maximum sentence of life in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Anyone with information about human rights violators in the U.S. is urged to contact the FBI tip line at 1-800-CALL-FBI or HSI at 1-866-DHS-2-ICE, or via an online tip form.