Man Sentenced to 35 Years in Prison for Kidnapping F.B.I. Worker

Curt Lauinger, an F.B.I. employee, had just left a crime scene early one morning in May 2022, and was driving toward Rapid City, S.D., when he stopped on the side of the road because he thought he was being pulled over by the police, according to court documents.

As he looked out the window, records show, a man pointed a rifle and ordered him to get out of his S.U.V.

Mr. Lauinger was then forced into the back seat of his vehicle, and the man, Juan Alvarez-Sorto, along with two others — Deyvin Morales and Karla Alejandra Lopez-Gutierrez — drove off, according to court documents.

The three were trying to hide from the police near Red Shirt, S.D., after a high-speed chase during a trip from Colorado in which the three had planned to distribute drugs, prosecutors said. They had pulled over and planned to carjack the next vehicle that drove by, prosecutors said, apparently to continue to elude law enforcement officers.

Mr. Lauinger was later able to escape after the three stopped at a gas station in Hermosa, S.D., south of Rapid City, according to court documents.

It was unclear whether the three knew that Mr. Lauinger worked for the F.B.I. as a crime victim specialist, whose responsibilities include offering emotional support and legal protection.

On Friday, in the U.S. District Court in Rapid City, Judge Karen E. Schreier sentenced Mr. Alvarez-Sorto, 25, of El Salvador, to 35 years in prison on charges of kidnapping, carjacking, use of a firearm and unlawful re-entry after deportation, according to court records. A federal jury found him guilty of those charges in January.

Mr. Alvarez-Sorto was deported in 2017 and returned to the United States in 2020, according to Alecia Fuller, a lawyer representing him. She declined to comment about the case. It was unclear why he had been deported.

Mr. Morales, 29, of Guatemala, and Ms. Lopez-Gutierrez, 29, of Colorado, are scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Schreier on April 26 in Rapid City.

A federal jury found Mr. Morales guilty in January on charges of kidnapping, carjacking and use of a firearm, according to court documents. Records show that Ms. Lopez-Gutierrez pleaded guilty in August to charges of kidnapping and use of a firearm.

Lawyers for Mr. Morales and Ms. Lopez-Gutierrez did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Tuesday.

Mr. Alvarez-Sorto, Mr. Morales and Ms. Lopez-Gutierrez were in South Dakota in May 2022 on what prosecutors called a drug trafficking trip, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of South Dakota said in a statement in January. The three had planned to distribute methamphetamine, fentanyl and heroin, prosecutors said.

Mr. Lauinger was driving north around 2 a.m. on May 6, 2022, when he passed a vehicle that was parked off the side of the road, according to court documents. The vehicle then pulled out behind Mr. Lauinger as its lights were turned on, leading Mr. Lauinger to believe he was being pulled over by law enforcement officers, according to court documents.

After Mr. Alvarez-Sorto forced Mr. Lauinger out of his S.U.V. at gunpoint, he held a rifle to the back of Mr. Lauinger’s head as the three took his wallet and two cellphones, according to court documents.

They forced him back into the S.U.V. and traveled north. The three told Mr. Lauinger that if he did not cooperate, they would go after his family, according to court documents.

Mr. Alvarez-Sorto sat in the front passenger’s seat while Mr. Morales sat in the back next to Mr. Lauinger, according to court documents, and Ms. Lopez-Gutierrez drove.

A short time later, they pulled over at a gas station in Hermosa, and Ms. Lopez-Gutierrez went inside to buy zip ties and gas, according to court documents. With the doors of the S.U.V. unlocked, Mr. Lauinger was able to escape just as Ms. Lopez Gutierrez was about to pump gas, according to court documents. The F.B.I. worker ran inside the station.

Mr. Lauinger and the F.B.I. did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Tuesday.

Mr. Alvarez-Sorto, Mr. Morales and Ms. Lopez-Gutierrez drove away and traveled to Rapid City, where they left behind Mr. Lauinger’s S.U.V. and found another vehicle, prosecutors said.

Mr. Alvarez-Sorto and Mr. Morales were arrested in May 2022 in Colorado and were later transported to South Dakota, according to the Justice Department. Ms. Lopez-Gutierrez was arrested a few weeks later.

In a jail note to Mr. Alvarez-Sorto, Mr. Morales wrote that they had experienced issues with their vehicle.

“The F.B.I. is saying that we were waiting for him so we could kidnap him, and that is not true,” he wrote. “Unfortunately, he ended up stopping there where we were.”

Alvin M. Winston, a senior special agent in charge with the F.B.I. field office in Minneapolis, said in a statement in January that “the F.B.I. will not tolerate violence and threats to harm its personnel.”

He added, “Justice will be relentlessly pursued against those who seek to harm or intimidate any of our work force.”