4th Somali Pirate Pleads Guilty in Yacht Hijacking

A Somali man may have helped take four Americans hostage, and killed them
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted May 23, 2011 1:15 PM CDT
Fourth Somali Pirate Burhan Abdirahman Yusuf Pleads Guilty in American Yacht Hijacking, Muder
Candles frame a photo at a memorial service for Scott and Jean Adam, shot to death Feb. 22 by Somali pirates, at the Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif., Wednesday, March 2, 2011.   (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)

A fourth Somali man has pleaded guilty to piracy for his role in the hijacking of a yacht that left four Americans dead last February. Burhan Abdirahman Yusuf, who pleaded guilty in federal court in Norfolk today, is among 14 people from Somalia and one from Yemen facing charges related to the hijacking of the yacht Quest. The owners of the Quest, Jean and Scott Adam, along with friends Bob Riggle and Phyllis Macay, were shot to death after being taken hostage several hundred miles south of Oman.

Yusuf faces life in prison at sentencing, though that may be reduced as part of a plea agreement. Court documents show Yusuf identified several men who he says shot the Americans. (Click to read about the alleged pirate leader of the yacht attack.)

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