By Bill Lindelof
blindelof@sacbee.com
A man who carjacked one vehicle and tried to stop another by firing a gunshot has been given more than 40 years in prison.
Felipe Ortega (photo right), 28, of Sacramento, received a sentence of 43 years after pleading no contest to carjacking and three counts of assault with a semiautomatic weapon in Placer County Superior Court.
His sentence was increased by admissions of using a firearm and having a previous felony strike, according to a Placer County District Attorney's office press release.
Ortega, considered the leader of a trio who were all recently sentenced, twice drove a black Lincoln Navigator to follow customers from the Tropicana Club on Arden Way in Sacramento late at night.
On Nov. 22, 2008, Ortega followed a pickup from the nightclub to North Highlands. The Navigator made the truck stop and the driver was forced into the SUV. A masked Ortega then drove off in the truck.
The victim was later released unharmed.
Eight day later, the Navigator followed another vehicle from the nightclub, this time to Rocklin. During an apparent attempt to carjack the vehicle, Ortega fired a shot at the motorist, striking the vehicle.
Rocklin police stopped the Navigator. Ortega and two others were arrested.
A Sacramento County Sheriff's detective who was aware of the North Highlands carjacking, read in The Bee about the Rocklin incident and connected the two crimes.
At Ortega's Friday sentencing, the woman in the Rocklin case testified that it was difficult to be in court with a person who wanted to take her life.
In Spanish, she said: "May God pardon you because I cannot." Ortega, facing the judge, showed no emotion.
Also sentenced Friday for her part in the escapade was Mirna Corral, 36, to four years probation and one year in county jail for felony robbery, assault and receiving stolen property.
And on Monday, Omar Lozano Villicana, 20, was sentenced after pleading no contest to conspiracy and assault. He was given one year in jail and placed on four years probation.
Call The Bee's Bill Lindelof, (916) 321-1079.
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