18-36 years for leader in carjackings, assaults

The accused ringleader of two carjackings in July 2006 in which three women were sexually assaulted at gunpoint was sentenced yesterday to 18 to 36 years in prison.

Just before sentencing, Manuel Pagan, 25, of Margaret Street in Frankford, tried to withdraw his guilty plea on rape, robbery, weapons and conspiracy charges.

He also tried to dump his court-appointed lawyer.

In a Dec. 22 letter to the court, Pagan said he wanted to withdraw his plea and asked the judge to appoint another lawyer, requesting "a high-profile" one.

Common Pleas Judge Rose Marie DeFino-Nastasi yesterday denied both motions. She found that Pagan did not have a "fair and just reason" to withdraw his plea, and also found that his attorney, Bryan DiGregory, had represented him well.

She then proceeded to sentencing.

"You abducted them, you terrorized them, you sexually assaulted them," the judge lashed out at Pagan.

She agreed with Assistant District Attorney Eileen Hurley that Pagan, the oldest of the three attackers, had been the "ringleader."

Pagan began sniffling when the judge listed the years he'll be spending behind bars. Standing, he tried to wipe his nose with his cuffed hands.

None of the victims - two men and three women - was in court for the sentencing.

The first attack occurred about 3 a.m. on July 16. Three Brazilian immigrants - an 18-year-old woman and two male friends, ages 21 and 23 - were leaving a bar on Cayuga Street near H in Juniata Park.

Pagan's half-brother, Santos Santiago, then 19, and their friend Christian Guzman, then 16, pistol-whipped the men and forced the three into the woman's car. Pagan, then 24, entered the car and forced the woman to perform oral sex on him.

The thugs later pushed the woman naked out of the car after they drove to Frankford.

In the second case, about 2:45 a.m. July 24, the trio intentionally bumped their car into the back of another car on D Street near Whitaker Avenue, in North Philly.

Santiago and Guzman forced their way at gunpoint into the other car, which had two sisters, ages 18 and 19, inside.

Pagan later got into the car and, during a frightening drive, forced both sisters to perform oral sex on him. He also used a cell-phone camera to take photos of them naked, and threatened to kill them and post the photos online if they went to police.

A Spanish interpreter yesterday read a victim-impact letter previously written by the older sister. In it, the woman described the fear she felt that night and the fear that still grips her.

"Every time I am driving a car and I see a white car, I think they are coming after me," she wrote.

Pagan fled to New York after the attacks. Special Victims Unit detectives Carl Latorre, who recently retired, and James Owens kept working the case, and when they learned Pagan was visiting his girlfriend here in October 2006, they set up surveillance on her house, then nabbed him, Hurley said after the hearing.

Previously, Santiago was sentenced to 17 to 34 years in prison, Guzman to 14 to 28 years. *