Carjackers admit guilt in attack on federal agent

Two teens will spend up to 25 years in prison after pleading guilty to armed carjackingandkidnapping a vacationing federal law enforcement agent in Orange County last year.

Dante Askins, 19, and Gregory McDonald, 18, will be sentenced to at least 7 years in prison, the U.S. Attorney said.

Armando Alaniz, a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agent from Texas, was setting his GPS in his vehicle on Aug. 12 at the Fairfield Inn and Suites, 8214 Universal Blvd., when Askins ran up and pointed a longbarreled .22 revolver at him.

He, McDonald and two minors forced Alaniz into his vehicle.

Alaniz’s hands were ziptied behind his back and his mouth duct-taped.

Then McDonald pistolwhipped the agent three times in the head, officials said.

The suspects held the victim for about two hours.

As timewent on, Alaniz’s wife became concerned and called OnStar and 911.

A representative from OnStar made a call to the vehicle and heard the officer screaming for help.

After hearing the OnStar operator, the suspects fled, and the victim was able to free himself and run away.

Deputies found him and located his vehicle a short distance away outside a home believed to be a drug house on West Cypress Street near Ivey said.

Alaniz received several stitches to his head at the hospital, a result of the pistol

Askins has been arrested six times, including an attempted murder charge in 2013 when he was a minor. That charge was later dropped.

McDonald and Askins remain at the Orange County Jail awaiting sentencing.

The date has not yet been set.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, and the Florida Department of LawEnforcement.

Lane,

dharris@tribune.com or 407-420-5471

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