APRIL 2024:
United States Attorney Alison J. Ramsdell announced that U.S. District Judge Karen E. Schreier has sentenced an El Salvadoran man, a Guatemalan man, and a Kersey,
Colorado, woman convicted of the following offenses: Kidnapping; Carjacking; Brandishing a Firearm During and in Relation to a Crime of Violence; Unlawful Possession of a Firearm by a Prohibited Person; and Unlawful Reentry after Deportation. The sentencings took place on April 12 and April 26, 2024, in Rapid City, South Dakota.
Deyvin Morales, age 29, of Guatemala, was sentenced on April 26, 2024, to 47 years in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release.
Juan Francisco Alvarez-Sorto, age 25, of El Salvador, was sentenced on April 12, 2024, to 35 years in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release.
Karla Lopez-Gutierrez, age 29, was sentenced on April 26, 2024, to 26 1⁄2 years in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release.
Alvarez, Morales, and Lopez were indicted by a federal grand jury in August of 2022. Lopez- Gutierrez pleaded guilty to Kidnapping and Brandishing a Firearm During and in Relation to a Crime of Violence on August 17, 2023. Alvarez and Morales were indicted again in December of 2023. On January 23, 2024, following a federal trial, Alvarez and Morales were found guilty of Kidnapping; Carjacking; Brandishing a Firearm During and in Relation to a Crime of Violence; Unlawful Possession of a Firearm by a Prohibited Person; and Unlawful Reentry after Deportation.
“The victim in this case was faithfully performing his duties when he found himself at the center of an absolute nightmare — fighting for survival in the back of his own car after these callous defendants carjacked, kidnapped, and held the victim at gunpoint for more than thirty minutes,” said U.S. Attorney Alison Ramsdell. “That men and women in law enforcement must face such profound risks to their lives while working to secure community safety is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. These lengthy sentences reflect those principles. Once again, we are grateful to the FBI and numerous other federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement partners for their unwavering commitment to both this investigation and to the righteous mission we all serve in this community.”
“These sentences reaffirm the FBI’s steadfast commitment to protecting our personnel from acts of violence and intimidation,” said Special Agent in Charge Alvin M. Winston Sr. of FBI Minneapolis. “We extend our gratitude to the USAO-SD and law enforcement partners for their unwavering dedication. Justice has been served, and we continue to stand united against any attempt to endanger our workforce.”
In her sentencing comments, Judge Schreier declared the defendants’ actions among the most horrendous crimes she had seen as a judge.
According to evidence admitted at trial, on May 5, 2022, Alvarez, Morales, and Lopez traveled from Greeley, Colorado, into southwestern South Dakota for the purpose of trafficking and distributing controlled substances, including methamphetamine, fentanyl, and heroin. During their trip, the defendants encountered a South Dakota Highway Patrol Officer and engaged in a high- speed chase. The defendants eluded law enforcement at that time and hid in a remote area near Red Shirt, South Dakota.
Alvarez, Morales, and Lopez then decided to carjack the next vehicle to come along the area at which the defendants stopped on BIA Highway 41. At approximately 2:00 a.m. on May 6, 2022, a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Victim Specialist left an unrelated crime scene investigation near Oglala, South Dakota, and began traveling back towards his duty station in Rapid City. The FBI employee was driving his assigned FBI vehicle. As the employee was heading North on BIA 41 near the Badlands overlook on Cuny Table, he passed a vehicle that was parked in the approach near the overlook. As he passed the parked vehicle, the parked vehicle’s lights turned on and the vehicle pulled out behind the employee. The employee, believing he was being pulled over by law enforcement, pulled his vehicle to the side of the road. After the employee pulled his vehicle over, he next realized there was a male at his window pointing a rifle at him and ordering him to get out of the vehicle. The employee realized
that the male, identified as Alvarez, was not a law enforcement officer and also that the vehicle had blocked his own vehicle, preventing him from driving away.
Morales and Alvarez ordered the FBI employee out of his vehicle at gun point. The employee was ordered to get on the ground behind his vehicle while Alvarez was holding the rifle at the back of his head. The employee was ordered to keep his head down while on the ground. The group then robbed him of his wallet, money, credit cards, car keys, watch, and personal and work mobile phones.
The FBI employee was then ordered to get up and placed in the middle-rear seat of his government- issued vehicle, as the passenger side seat was blocked with items. While holding the rifle, Alvarez
was seated in the front passenger seat of the employee’s vehicle and Morales, while armed with two handguns in his waistband, was seated in the rear driver’s side seat next to the employee. Lopez got into the driver’s seat of the employee’s vehicle. At this point, the defendants took control of the vehicle and took the employee hostage. As the group traveled North on BIA 41, they told the employee to cooperate and he would be safe, but if he did not, the group would come after his family and that they knew where he lived.
The group traveled to Hermosa, South Dakota, stopping at a gas station at the intersection of State Highway 40 and Highway 79. Once the group arrived at the gas station, Lopez went inside to purchase gas. As she got out of the vehicle to go inside the gas station, Alvarez locked the doors to the employee’s vehicle, and the doors remained locked while Lopez was out of the vehicle.
Lopez then came back to the vehicle holding a gas can and zip ties. She entered the vehicle and conducted a U-turn and then went to a gas pump. The FBI employee noticed that after Lopez came back to the vehicle, Alvarez, who was brandishing the firearm, had the zip ties in his possession and was getting them out. As Lopez got out to pump gas, the doors to the vehicle were momentarily unlocked. Seizing the opportunity, the employee opened the rear driver’s side door, fought his way out of the vehicle, slipping out of his jacket to escape Morales’ attempts to detain him, and sprinted inside the front doors of the gas station to escape.
The three defendants then fled from the gas station and drove to Rapid City, where they abandoned the FBI vehicle and switched to another vehicle. Alvarez and Morales were able to make it back to Greeley, Colorado, where they were ultimately arrested for their roles in the kidnapping and carjacking. During a search of the residence where Alvarez and Morales were arrested, law enforcement located firearms, including the rifle used during the kidnapping and carjacking, and controlled substances. Lopez was arrested soon afterward.
This case was investigated by the FBI, Department of Homeland Security’s Homeland Security Investigations and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation, South Dakota Highway Patrol, Oglala Sioux Tribe Department of Public Safety, Rapid City Police Department, Greeley, Colorado Police Department, and the Custer and Pennington County Sheriffs’ Offices. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jeremy R. Jehangiri and Paige Petersen prosecuted the case.
Alvarez, Morales, and Lopez were remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service to begin serving their sentences.
APRIL 2024:
RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) — One of three people convicted of carjacking and kidnapping an FBI employee in South Dakota has been sentenced to 37 years in prison.
Juan Alvarez-Sorto, 25, was sentenced Friday in federal court, the Rapid City Journal reported. Alvarez-Sorto and Deyvin Morales, 29, were found guilty in January 2024. Alvarez-Sorto also was convicted of unlawfully entering the U.S. after being deported to his home country, El Salvador.
A third suspect, 29-year-old Karla Lopez-Gutierrez, pleaded guilty in August. Morales and Lopez-Gutierrez are both scheduled for sentencing April 26.
Prosecutors said the trio left Greeley, Colorado, on May 5, 2022, and were on a “drug trafficking trip” to South Dakota in a Ford Expedition. Nearly out of gas at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, Morales told the others they needed to “take over” a new vehicle, Lopez-Gutierrez testified in January.
A short time later, the FBI employee speeding in his Dodge Durango saw the Expedition and pulled over, believing it was a tribal officer. Prosecutors said the suspects took the Durango at gunpoint and forced the victim to go along.
“I’m still haunted by the trauma you inflicted upon me,” the victim told Alvarez-Sorto at the sentencing hearing. He said Alvarez-Sorto threatened his family and held a gun to the back of his head as he was face-down in the Badlands.
When the group stopped to buy gas and zip ties in the town of Hermosa, South Dakota, the victim managed to escape.
Morales and Alvarez-Sorto were arrested in Greeley a week later. Lopez-Gutierrez was arrested in August 2022 in Loveland, Colorado.
Alvarez-Sorto’s attorney, Alecia Fuller, said his client was remorseful and noted that relatives had abused Alvarez-Sorto as a child.
JANUARY 2024:
SIOUX FALLS – United States Attorney Alison J. Ramsdell announced that a federal jury has convicted Juan Francisco Alvarez-Sorto, age 25, of El Salvador, and Deyvin Morales, age 29, of Guatemala, of the following offenses: Kidnapping; Carjacking; Brandishing a Firearm During and in Relation to a Crime of Violence; Unlawful Possession of a Firearm by a Prohibited Person; and Unlawful Reentry after Deportation. The jury returned its verdict on each count following a 6-day jury trial in federal district court in Rapid City, South Dakota. The verdict was returned on January 23, 2024.
According to evidence presented at trial, on May 5, 2022, Alvarez, Morales, and Karla Alejandra Lopez-Gutierrez from Greely, Colorado, traveled from Greeley into southwestern South Dakota for the purpose of trafficking and distributing controlled substances, including methamphetamine, fentanyl, and heroin. During their trip, the defendants encountered law enforcement and engaged in a high-speed chase. The defendants eluded law enforcement at that time and hid in a remote area near Red Shirt, South Dakota.
Alvarez, Morales, and Lopez then decided to carjack the next vehicle to come along the area at which the defendants stopped on BIA Highway 41. At approximately 2:00am on May 6, 2022, a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Victim Specialist left an unrelated crime scene investigation near Oglala, South Dakota, and began traveling back towards his duty station in Rapid City. The FBI employee was driving his assigned FBI vehicle.
As the employee was heading North on BIA 41 near the Badlands overlook on Cuny Table, he passed a vehicle that was parked in the approach near the overlook. As he passed the parked vehicle, the parked vehicle’s lights turned on and the vehicle pulled out behind the employee. The employee, believing he was being pulled over by law enforcement, pulled his vehicle to the side of the road. After the employee pulled his vehicle over, he next realized there was a male at his window pointing a rifle at him and ordering him to get out of the vehicle. The employee realized that the male, identified as Alvarez, was not a law enforcement officer and also that the vehicle had blocked his own vehicle, preventing him from driving away.
Morales and Alvarez ordered the FBI employee out of the vehicle at gun point. The employee was ordered to get on the ground behind his vehicle while Alvarez was holding the rifle at the back of his head. The employee was ordered to keep his head down while on the ground. The group then robbed him of his wallet, money, credit cards, car keys, watch, and personal and work mobile phones.
The FBI employee was then ordered to get up and placed in the middle-rear seat of his government-issued vehicle, as the passenger side seat was blocked with items. While holding the rifle, Alvarez was seated in the front passenger seat of the employee’s vehicle and Morales, while armed with two handguns in his waistband, was seated in the rear driver’s side seat next to the employee. Lopez got into the driver’s seat of the employee’s vehicle. At this point, the defendants took control of the vehicle and took the employee hostage. As the group traveled North on BIA 41, they told the employee to cooperate and he would be safe, but if he did not, the group would come after his family and that they knew where he lived.
The group traveled to Hermosa, South Dakota, stopping at a gas station at the intersection of State Highway 40 and Highway 79. Once the group arrived at the gas station, Lopez went inside to purchase gas. As she got out of the vehicle to go inside the gas station, Alvarez locked the doors to the employee’s vehicle, and the doors remained locked while Lopez was out of the vehicle. Lopez then came back to the vehicle holding a gas can and zip ties. She entered the vehicle and conducted a U-turn and then went to a gas pump. The FBI employee noticed that after Lopez came back to the vehicle, Alvarez, who was brandishing the firearm, had the zip ties in his possession and was getting them out. As Lopez got out to pump gas, the doors to the vehicle were momentarily unlocked. Seizing the opportunity, the employee opened the rear driver’s side door, fought his way out of the vehicle, slipping out of his jacket to escape Morales’ attempts to detain him, and sprinted inside the front doors of the gas station to escape.
The three defendants then fled from the gas station and drove to Rapid City, where they abandoned the FBI vehicle and switched to another vehicle. Alvarez and Morales were able to make it back to Greeley, Colorado, where they were ultimately arrested for their roles in the kidnapping and carjacking. During a search of the residence where Alvarez and Morales were arrested, law enforcement located firearms, including the rifle used during the kidnapping and carjacking, and controlled substances.
“Every day, men and women in the Department of Justice respond to incidents of violent crime in South Dakota,” said U.S. Attorney Alison Ramsdell. “This dedication to improving community safety often comes with great personal sacrifice, and as this case unfortunately demonstrates, on occasion, an extreme risk to personal safety. We are grateful to our partners at the FBI for their dogged commitment to this difficult work, and we hope these convictions send a clear message about the lengths the U.S. Attorney’s Office is willing to go to vindicate the rights of victims, no matter who they are.”
“The FBI will not tolerate violence and threats to harm its personnel,” said Special Agent in Charge Alvin M. Winston Sr. of FBI Minneapolis. “Thank you to our law enforcement partners and the USAO-SD for their hard work and unwavering dedication. This verdict stands as a testament to our commitment to ensuring the safety and security of every member of the FBI. Justice will be relentlessly pursued against those who seek to harm or intimidate any of our workforce.”
This case was investigated by the FBI, Department of Homeland Security’s Homeland Security Investigations and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the South Dakota DCI, the South Dakota Highway Patrol, the Oglala Sioux Tribe Department of Public Safety, the Rapid City Police Department, and the Greeley, Colorado, Police Department, and the Custer and Pennington County Sheriff’s Offices. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jeremy R. Jehangiri and Paige Petersen prosecuted the case.
Alvarez, Morales, and co-defendant Karla Alejandra Lopez-Gutierrez were indicted by a federal grand jury in August of 2022 and Alvarez and Morales were indicted again in December of 2023.
The charge of kidnapping carries any term of years up to life in custody and/or a $250,000 fine and 5 years of supervised release. The charge of carjacking carries 15 years of custody and/or a $250,000 fine and 3 years of supervised release. The use, carry, and brandish a firearm charge carries a mandatory minimum of 7 years and up to life in custody and/or a $250,000 fine and 5 years of supervised release. The unlawful possession of a firearm by a prohibited person charge carries 10 years of custody and/or a $250,000 fine and 3 years of supervised release. The unlawful reentry after deportation charge carries 2 years of custody and/or a $250,000 fine and one year of supervised release. A $100 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund applies to each count, totaling $500.
A sentencing date has not yet been set. The defendants were remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.
JUNE 28, 2022:
A woman from Kersey, Colorado, has been indicted by a federal grand jury for her role in Kidnapping, Carjacking, and Using, Carrying, and Brandishing a Firearm During and in Relation to a Crime of Violence.
Lourdes Bonilla, age 23, pled not guilty.
Juan Francisco Alvarez-Sorto, age 24, and Deyvin Morales, age 27, have also pled not guilty.
According to the indictment, on or about May 6, 2022, near Red Shirt, in the District of South Dakota, the defendants, Juan Francisco Alvarez-Sorto, a/k/a Juan Francisco Alvarez, a/k/a “Juanito R.,” a/k/a “Juan Jr.,” Deyvin Morales, a/k/a Deyvin Eliabid Escriba Morales, a/k/a Deybi Eleabit Escriba Morales, a/k/a “Guate,” a/k/a “Watay,” a/k/a “Chapine,” and Lourdes Alondra Bonilla, a/k/a “Bhabie Doze,” a/k/a “Princess_Doze,” did willfully and knowingly kidnap and abduct a victim. At the time, the victim was engaged in the performance of their official duties as a professional support employee with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The defendants also took the victim’s vehicle, with force, violence, and intimidation, and brandished a rifle during the commission of the charged criminal conduct. It is alleged that the defendants aided and abetted each other in committing the charges set forth in the indictment.
The maximum term of imprisonment upon conviction for each count is as follows: up to life for Kidnapping; up to fifteen (15) years for Carjacking; and a mandatory minimum of seven (7) years up to life for Using, Carrying, and Brandishing a Firearm During and in Relation to a Crime of Violence. Each count also has a maximum fine of $250,000.
The investigation is being conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The defendants were all detained pending further court proceedings in South Dakota. A trial date of August 16, 2022, has been set.
JUNE 6, 2022:
United States Attorney for South Dakota Alison Ramsdell says three individuals, one who resides in South Dakota and two who reside in Colorado, have been indicted by a federal grand jury for Kidnapping, Carjacking, and Using, Carrying, and Brandishing a Firearm During and in Relation to a Crime of Violence.
Juan Francisco Alvarez-Soto, age 23 and originally from El Salvador; Deyvin Morales, age 27 and originally from Guatemala; and Lourdes Alondra Bonilla, age 23 and originally from Colorado, each pleaded not guilty. The three defendants will be transported to the District of South Dakota for further court proceedings.
According to the indictment, on or about May 6, 2022, near Red Shirt, in the District of South Dakota, the defendants, Juan Francisco Alvarez-Sorto, a/k/a Juan Francisco Alvarez, a/k/a “Juanito R.,” a/k/a “Juan Jr.,” Deyvin Morales, a/k/a Deyvin Eliabid Escriba Morales, a/k/a Deybi Eleabit Escriba Morales, a/k/a “Guate,” a/k/a “Watay,” a/k/a “Chapine,” and Lourdes Alondra Bonilla, a/k/a “Bhabie Doze,” a/k/a “Princess_Doze,” did willfully kidnap FBI Victim Specialist Curt Lauinger while he was engaged in his official duties in Red Shirt on May 6, 2022. The defendants also took the victim’s vehicle, with force, violence, and intimidation, and brandished a rifle during the commission of the charged criminal conduct. It is alleged that the defendants aided and abetted each other in committing the charges set forth in the indictment.
The maximum term of imprisonment upon conviction for each count is as follows: up to life for Kidnapping; up to 15 years for Carjacking; and a mandatory minimum of 7 years up to life for Using, Carrying, and Brandishing a Firearm During and in Relation to a Crime of Violence. Each count also has a maximum fine of $250,000.
The investigation is being conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The defendants were all detained pending further court proceedings in South Dakota. A trial date has not been set.
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