A Russian court on Monday sentenced a member of the American military to three years and nine months in prison on charges that he stole from and threatened to kill his girlfriend, according to state media.
Staff Sgt. Gordon Black, 34, is alleged to have grabbed his Russian girlfriend by the neck while in a friend’s apartment in the far eastern city of Vladivostok in May, Russian state-run news agency TASS reported.
Black’s girlfriend also accused him of stealing 10,000 rubles ($113) from her wallet.
U.S. Army spokesperson Cynthia Smith earlier confirmed to POLITICO that Russian authorities had detained a soldier in Vladivostok on charges of “criminal misconduct.” The Army had notified the soldier’s family, she said.
Melody Jones, Black’s mother, told American broadcaster NBC that Black and his girlfriend had been seeing each other in South Korea for over a year and that her son “wanted to see her for the last time before going home.”
“He met her in the bar where she was working, and they’ve been together, on and off, for about a year and a half. I’ve never met her in person, but I’ve spoken to her over Messenger. My motherly instincts told me something was wrong with her,” Jones said.
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