Man Relives Horror at Assailants' Sentencings

Victim Was Kidnapped, Robbed and Repeatedly Stabbed, but 'I'm Not Scared'

The robbers dragged Gregory Lyles into a dark field, and one pointed a gun at his head. Lyles's hands were duct-taped behind his back. He was sure he was going to die.

But the gun jammed. When it failed several more times, the robbers threw Lyles into the back of his own truck and drove away -- in search of knives or box cutters to finish the job. Even then, Lyles said, he wasn't scared.

"If it was time for me to go, then it was time for me to go," he said. "I'm a realist."

That night, Lyles would be badly beaten and stabbed more than 10 times. He lost half his blood and barely survived what prosecutors have described as one of the most brutal kidnappings they have investigated in recent years.

Lyles, 49, has relived the horror of the night over and over as he sat in the District's federal court and watched four of his assailants be sentenced to stiff prison terms. The final two defendants are to be sentenced Tuesday before U.S. District Judge Paul L. Friedman. The six have pleaded guilty to charges ranging from kidnapping to assault with intent to kill.

"This very easily could have been a homicide," federal prosecutor John Cummings told Friedman on Thursday.

The kidnapping occurred Sept. 24, 2008. A friend, Ryan Wheeler, showed up at Lyles's business, Fine Touch Detailing, and asked him to check out some cars that might need work, Lyles recalled.

Wheeler then told Lyles they were really going to inspect some cocaine he wanted to purchase. Lyles, who has had his own troubles with the law in the past, tried to get out of the trip but went along anyway, he said.

They arrived at a townhouse in Laurel, and Lyles was confronted by five other men. They wanted to rob him. "You know what time it is," one of the men, Gregory Lassiter, told him, according to prosecutors. "The only way you are going to live is if you give us some money."

Lyles recognized Lassiter as a customer who had recently visited his shop to buy tinted windows for a car. This isn't good, Lyles thought, realizing that Lassiter had probably been casing his business for the robbery.

The assailants beat Lyles until he was "bloodied and dazed," according to court papers filed by Cummings and another federal prosecutor, Bryan Seeley.

The men took Lyles's gold necklace, a bracelet, his wallet and the keys to his Chevrolet Tahoe. They said they wanted to take Lyles to his house, where they hoped to find money or other valuables, according to prosecutors.