Carlos Ortega admitted in court in Long Island (NY) to having beaten his two nephews so severely that one of them had a leg amputated, and he fled to Guatemala to evade justice.
Ortega pleaded guilty Monday to brutally attacking two of his relatives with a metal pipe and then fleeing to his country, Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney said.
According to court documents, Ortega’s nephews showed up at his home in Central Islip in August 2018 to take his grandparents, who were visiting from Guatemala, out to dinner. But the guy got so mad seeing them in his home that he grabbed a metal pipe from his work truck and chased after them, authorities said.
A nephew, who was 23 years old at the time, tried to escape, but Ortega hit his leg with the pipe several times. The second youth confronted his uncle and he hit him in the face with the same piece of metal.
The youths were treated at Southside Hospital. The young man aged 23 was beaten so brutally that his leg had to be amputated.
Ortega was arrested and prosecuted in December 2018 and immediately posted bail, but fled to Guatemala despite surrendering his passport to the authorities.
Lived as a fugitive in Central America until he was captured by US marshals on February 25 of this year. Ortega has been jailed ever since.
The suspect tried to justify that he was acting in self-defense, but security footage showed that he attacked his nephews without provocation, he said New York Post. The Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office did not reveal why Ortega hit his relatives.
“The assault of this defendant was cruel enough to cost one of his victims a limb. Instead of communication, this defendant chose violence. Then, instead of facing the consequences of his action, this defendant tried to flee to another country,” prosecutor Tierney summarized in a statement. “He fled so he wouldn’t have to answer for his actions.” He will now be sentenced next November 21