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18-year-old sentenced to 24 years after stabbing security guard at dentist appointment

By July 1, 2023 | updated 2 years ago

Juan Ocegueda
FILE PHOTO: 17-year-old Juan Ocegueda escaped from a dentist office at 5801 W. 44th Avenue in Lakewood after he stabbed a guard. Ocegueda was sentenced to 24 years Friday for killing the guard.
Courtesy of the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office

An 18-year-old man who stabbed a security guard while at a dental appointment in Lakeside will serve 24 years in prison, according to a news release.

On May 31, 2022, Juan Ocegueda — who was 17 years old at the time — was taken to a routine orthodontist appointment while in the custody of Platte Valley Youth Services in Greeley, according to the release from the Office of the First Judicial District Attorney. 

A 53-year-old Division of Youth Services security specialist accompanied Ocegueda and had done so before.

During the appointment, Ocegueda asked to use the restroom, so the security guard uncuffed his right hand. He was in the bathroom for 10 minutes before coming out with a “knife or knife-like object” and stabbed the guard multiple times in his arm, abdomen, shoulder and neck, according to the release.

He then chased a dental employee down a hallway, pointing a knife at her, before escaping. 

Police found Ocegueda hiding in a nearby garage after an “hours-long manhunt” and arrested him, according to the release. They never recovered the knife. 

In arguments to the court, Deputy District Attorney Margaret Crabb read letters from the victims and families, who said their “future is different” because of Ocegueda’s actions. 

On May 1, he pleaded guilty to first-degree assault and crime of violence. On Friday, Ocegueda, now 18, was sentenced to 24 years in prison. 

“The people do not take a 24-year Department of Corrections sentence on an 18-year-old lightly,” Crabb said. “However, in light of the violent and aggravated nature of this crime and his extensive criminal history, this sentence is appropriate and necessary to ensure the safety of the community.”

Ocegueda has an “extensive” history of aggravated and violent crimes, according to the release. 

In December 2021, he escaped custody while serving an 18-month juvenile sentence. Between Dec. 10 and Jan. 8, 2021, he picked up four new felony cases in Weld and Larimer Counties, including second-degree assault, aggravated motor vehicle theft, aggravated robbery and attempted murder. 

He was arrested Jan. 27, 2022.

Ocegueda will be sentenced in Weld County on July 13 and Larimer County on July 31 in assault cases that he committed while in the Rocky Mountain Youth Services Center — which were dismissed as part of the plea deal. 

Kyla Pearce

Reporter

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