Man sentenced for trying to run over Border Patrol agent

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February 6, 2008 - 9:23 PM

The Associated Press

EL PASO — A man convicted of trying to run over a U.S. Border Patrol was sentenced to more than five years in federal prison Wednesday.

Gerardo Felipe Ortiz, 28, of El Paso, was convicted in November of one count of assault on a fed-eral officer. A federal judge sen-tenced him to five years and 10 months in prison for the April incident.

According to prosecutors, Ortiz was spotted by agents Federico Figueroa and Jose O. Garcia ex-changing a large amount of cash with another man in a parking lot.

When the agents tried to con-front Ortiz and the other man, prosecutors said, Ortiz drove his pickup truck toward Figueroa, who opened fire.

Ortiz, who was shot by a Border Patrol agent during the incident, was arrested when he drove him-self to a local hospital.

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