Juan Alvarez-Sorto and two other people were on a drug trafficking trip in 2022 when they carjacked an S.U.V. belonging to a crime victim specialist, federal prosecutors said.
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.
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Source: Elections - nytimes.com
