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US-jailed Russian pilot Yaroshenko to be transferred to Pennsylvania’s Loretto prison

Konstantin Yaroshenko has been transferred to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn
Konstantin Yaroshenko Family archive photo/TASS
Konstantin Yaroshenko
© Family archive photo/TASS

NEW YORK, June 15. /TASS/. Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko, serving a 20-year prison sentence in the United States, will be transferred from the Fort Dix prison in the state of New Jersey to the Federal Correction Institution Loretto in Pennsylvania, a high-ranking Russian diplomat told TASS.

"One of these days, Konstantin Yaroshenko was transferred from the special housing unit of the Fort Dix prison in New Jersey to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn," said Artem Tevanian, consul of the Consulate-General of Russia in New York City. "He may be transferred to the Loretto prison at any moment. Prisoners are transported by special buses, and there is no specific information right now about when this may happen."

"As soon as Konstantin Yaroshenko arrives to the Loretto jail, we will visit him there to check his prison conditions," the diplomat said.

The Federal Correctional Institution Loretto (FCI Loretto) is a low-security United States federal prison for male inmates, located 140 km east of Pittsburgh. It was built in 1985 and is designed to hold 988 inmates.

Yaroshenko was sentenced to 20 years in jail in the United States on September 7, 2011. He had been brought to the United States from Liberia after being arrested on May 28, 2010. Agents from the US Drug Enforcement Administration operating in disguise allegedly exposed his criminal intentions to transport a large batch of cocaine.

Yaroshenko denied all charges against him as fabricated, describing his arrest as a provocation.

Russian officials and Yaroshenko’s family have requested his extradition to Russia on numerous occassions.