Man sentenced to 37 years in FBI kidnapping case

A man convicted of carjacking and kidnapping an FBI victim specialist near Red Shirt was sentenced to 37 years in prison for a variety of crimes committed in the case April 12 at the federal courthouse in Rapid City.
U.S. District judge Karen Schreier sentenced Juan Alvarez-Sorto, 25, to 30 years for kidnapping to run consecutive and seven years for carrying and brandishing a firearm in the commission of a crime of violence. Alvarez-Sorto, an El Salvador native, was also found guilty by a federal jury of carjacking, unlawful possession of a firearm by a prohibited person and unlawful reentry into the United States after deportation.
Also convicted was Deyvin Morales, 29, of Guatemala. The jury returned its verdict on each count following a six-day jury trial. The verdict was returned Jan. 23.
According to evidence presented at trial, on May 5, 2022, Alvarez-Sorto, Morales and 29-year-old Karla Lopez-Gutierrez of Colorado traveled from Greeley, Colo., 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.
A press release from the U.S. Department of Justice said Alvarez-Sorto, Morales and Lopez-Gutierrez then decided to carjack the next vehicle to come through the area, for which the defendants stopped on BIA Hwy. 41. At approximately 2 a.m. May 6 the victim left an unrelated crime scene investigation near Oglala, and began traveling back toward 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-Sorto, was not a law enforcement officer and also that the vehicle had blocked his own vehicle, preventing him from driving away.
Morales and Alvarez-Sorto 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-Sorto 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 was 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-Sorto 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-Gutierrez 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, stopping at a gas station at the intersection of state Hwys. 40 and 79. Once the group arrived at the gas station, Lopez-Gutierrez went inside to purchase gas. As she got out of the vehicle to go inside the gas station, Alvarez-Sorto locked the doors to the employee’s vehicle, and the doors remained locked while Lopez-Gutierrez was out of the vehicle. Lopez-Gutierrez 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-Gutierrez came back to the vehicle, Alvarez-Sorto, who was brandishing the firearm, had the zip ties in his possession and was getting them out.
As Lopez-Gutierrez 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-Sorto and Morales were able to make it back to Greeley, Colo., where they were ultimately arrested for their roles in the kidnapping and carjacking. During a search of the residence where Alvarez-Sorto 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 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-Sorto, Morales, and  Lopez were indicted by a federal grand jury in August of 2022 and Alvarez-Sorto and Morales were indicted again in December of 2023.
According to an article in the Rapid City Journal, at Alvarez-Sorto’s sentencing Schrier said she read Alvarez-Sorto’s letter to the court that characterized the situation as a misunderstanding and an innocent request for a ride.
“That’s not an innocent ride to get gas from anybody I’ve seen,” she said.
Jehangiri has asked the court to sentence Alvarez-Sorto to the maximum sentence of life in prison on the kidnapping charge and the firearm use charge.
“I believe defendant Alvarez-Sorto has earned it,” he said.
Morales’ sentencing is scheduled for 9 a.m. April 26, and Lopez-Gutierrez will be sentenced an hour later.