Three sentenced for 2022 kidnapping of FBI agent

U.S. District Judge Karen E. Schreier on Friday issued two of the individuals their decades-long sentences, according to a statement from the Justice Department. The third was sentenced two weeks earlier.

Who are the individuals in question? Deyvin Morales, 29, originally from Guatemala, received 47 years in federal prison Friday. Karla Lopez-Gutierrez, 29, received more than 26 years in prison on Friday, as well. Juan Francisco Alvarez-Sorto, 25, originally from El Salvador, received his 35-year sentence earlier this month.

How did they kidnap an FBI agent? The three individuals were on their way from Colorado to South Dakota in May 2022 to traffic drugs, including methamphetamine, fentanyl, and heroin. While they were traveling, they were pursued by a South Dakota Highway Patrol officer in a high-speed chase. After escaping the officer and hiding in a remote area near Cuny Table in the South Dakota Badlands, the individuals decided to carjack the next vehicle that drove by their hiding spot.

A Federal Bureau of Investigation victim specialist was the next person driving by in his bureau-issued vehicle. The three traffickers pulled their car up behind him as he drove by. Assuming he was being pulled over by law enforcement, the FBI specialist stopped his car on the side of the road. Two of the three traffickers jumped him at gunpoint and forced him into the back seat of his vehicle. The trio then drove him to a gas station in Hermosa, S.D. While they were refueling his vehicle at the pump, the FBI employee managed to escape and retreat inside the gas station. The three traffickers all fled in his vehicle, which they eventually abandoned in Rapid City, S.D. Morales and Alvarez were arrested at a residence in Greeley, Colo. Authorities later arrested Lopez.

Dig deeper: Read Kim Henderson’s report in WORLD Magazine about whether police are still struggling to recruit.