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International Business Times UK
International Business Times UK
Politics
Jericho Paradeza

Drug Boss Sentenced to 18 Years After Hiring Goons To Beat 80-Year-Old Father To Extort Drug Recipe

DEA California Prison
Joel Dowen was sentenced to 18 years for orchestrating a beating of an 80-year-old man in an effort to extort a drug recipe (Credit: Pexels - Kindel Media)

Joel Dowen, a 46-year-old resident of Concord, California, has been handed an 18-year federal prison sentence following a series of violent crimes that culminated in a federal courtroom in Oakland.

US District Judge Jon S Tigar delivered the sentence on 7 August 2026 after Dowen pleaded guilty to all counts, which encompassed a ruthless extortion scheme, an armed assault on federal law enforcement officers, extensive narcotics manufacturing, and separate bank fraud charges.

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