Fitchburg father, son plead guilty in death of Calif. man

WORCESTER, Mass. (AP) - A Fitchburg father and son have been sentenced to up to five years in prison each after pleading guilty to charges related to the drug-related beating and strangulation of a California man whose body was dumped near the Fitchburg airport.

Authorities say 54-year-old Reinaldo Andino-Colon and 24-year-old Reinaldo Andino-Benitez each pleaded guilty Wednesday charges including accessory to murder after the fact.

Prosecutors say they paid another man to kill 32-year-old Alex Ortiz-Rivera of South Gate, Calif., so they could steal nine pounds of marijuana and $8,000 in cash he had in their home.

The Sentinel & Enterprise reports that the other man is awaiting trial.

Ortiz-Rivera was found dead Aug. 19, 2011, barefoot and without identification, his larynx punctured and crushed, in a sandpit near the Fitchburg Municipal Airport.

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Cox Media Group