Two former University students who pled guilty in April to abduction with the intent to gain pecuniary benefit were sentenced June 6 to serve at least four years in the Virginia penitentiary system, according to Asst. Commonwealth Attorney Gregory Holt.
In November 2007, then-second-year Engineering students Baichuan Shu and Guanyu Lu, both Chinese nationals, kidnapped Paul Wang, a fellow Chinese national living with his uncle in Northern Virginia and demanded $500,000 ransom.
Shu and Lu faced a 20-year to life sentence, but judge Dennis Smith suspended their active jail time, except for a required 4.5 years, Holt said. At the end of their prison terms, the former students likely will be deported, he added.
"Lu and Shu got bored, I believe, one Thanksgiving Break and they were looking for something to do and they came up with the decision to kidnap the victim and developed a plan," Holt said.
After buying air-soft pellet guns, duct tape and masks, Holt said, Lu and Shu told Wang they were friends from Wang's father's high school. Lu and Shu lured Wang out to meet them on the pretense of helping with some car trouble.
"One of those individuals called the victim's uncle and told them they had Paul, [and they] wanted $500,000 in three days or he would die," Holt said. Upon receiving the ransom call, Wang's uncle called the police; the Department of Homeland Security was subsequently able to trace Lu and Shu's cell phone calls to Falls Church.
FBI agents then discovered the pair of kidnappers in the Stratford Motel, where, upon further investigation, they also found Wang in the bathroom of Lu and Shu's room, where he was tied to a rope attached to an iron bar, with duct tape over his arms and legs, Holt said.
Holt noted that Wang's injuries have since healed and Wang is currently planning to return to China.
"Physically [Wang] seems to be fine and he did appear at the sentencing with his family," Holt said.
--compiled by Kelly Morenus
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