Aliso Viejo Driver Pleads Guilty To Running Down Federal Officer

ALISO VIEJO, CA — Three years ago, an Aliso Viejo driver ran down a U.S. Customs and Border Protection employee at the Laguna Niguel federal building. This week, Geoffrey Donald Rickner, 48, pleaded guilty to the crime.

CPB Specialist Jose Gutierrez sustained permanent injuries in the March 3, 2016 event, outside the Chet Holifield Federal Building, according to federal prosecutors.

According to reports, Rickner "behaved suspiciously" in the hours before the collision, leading building security personnel to detain him at one point, during which he made comments about owing money to the IRS, according to court documents.

After slamming into the victim, Rickner's car continued through a metal garage door and crashed into a concrete wall, "stopping only when it struck a concrete wall inside the building," the U.S. Attorney's Office said in release.

Gutierrez, who was in a well-marked crosswalk and wearing his federal employee identification card at the time, suffered serious head and leg injuries, along with broken ribs and internal bleeding, that resulted in a three-week hospitalization and "continue to cause him pain and physical impairment," according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

An Oct. 7 sentencing date was set for Rickner, who pleaded guilty to one count of assault on a federal employee by use of a dangerous and deadly weapon and inflicting bodily injury, a felony offense that carries a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.

City News Service contributed to this report.