EAGLE, Idaho — Steen Lamb and Devin Larson were sentenced Friday at the Ada County Courthouse in a case Idaho News 6 first began covering in the fall of 2025.
Prosecutors say the two men lured Jordan Carrillo to the Eagle foothills under the guise of a motorcycle photo shoot on Sep. 4, 2025.
There, they zip-tied, tased, and beat Carrillo for hours, all the while threatening him and his family if he reported the incident to police.
WATCH | Larson and Lamb in court for their sentencing—
Lamb pleaded guilty to second-degree kidnapping. He faced a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison and a $50,000 fine. The judge sentenced Lamb to 3 years fixed plus 10 years indeterminate, with credit for 260 days of time served. The judge also granted a rider — a period of retained jurisdiction — for evaluation and front-end treatment purposes, with the expectation that Lamb would serve the full sentence after completing the rider. The judge waived fines due to Lamb's need for ongoing mental health treatment.
Larson also pleaded guilty to second-degree kidnapping on an open plea. The judge sentenced him to 2 years fixed plus 5 years indeterminate, with credit for 16 days of time served, and also granted a rider. The judge said if Larson completes the rider successfully, he would have the opportunity to return to court with a plan for probation — a path not available to Lamb. The judge ordered Larson to be placed at a different rider facility than Lamb and said she did not want the two to have any contact going forward. A misdemeanor battery charge against Larson was dismissed.
Both men were issued 20-year no-contact orders with Carrillo.
Carrillo could not attend either sentencing on Friday morning because he is currently in Navy basic training — a fact he addressed directly in his written statement. Rather than allow his absence to go unacknowledged, Carrillo permitted Araceli Corona to read his statement aloud in court at both hearings.
RELATED | Eagle kidnapping victim testifies against accused attacker in court
Corona confirmed she had spoken with Carrillo days before the sentencing to go over the statement and receive his approval, and that she had the confirmation in writing. The judge allowed her to read the statement on his behalf and directed that the letter be submitted to the pre-sentence investigator as part of the court record in both cases.
In his statement, Carrillo described in detail what happened to him on the night of September 4, 2025.
"On that night, I was tased, beaten, and zip-tied. It was one of the most terrifying moments of my life. In that moment, I felt completely helpless and out of control. The physical pain was real, but what stayed with me even more was the fear and the mental impact of knowing how quickly everything could be taken away from me. What happened to me was not small or accidental. It was a choice that caused real harm."
Carrillo said the aftermath was difficult to process.
"For a while, I had to deal with the fear, stress, and trying to process why it happened."
But he said he made a deliberate choice not to let the attack define him.
"Even though I was victimized that night, I made the decision to not let it define my life. I worked hard to move forward and not to stay stuck in that moment. I didn't let what happened to me take away from my future or who I want to become."
He addressed the defendants directly, drawing a contrast between their circumstances and his own.
"While you are facing the consequences of your actions and serving your sentence, I am choosing a different path. I am serving my country. That decision means everything to me because it shows I didn't let that night control the rest of my life."
Carrillo closed his statement with a message about his identity and his future.
"What happened to me on September 4th, 2025, will always be something I went through, but it is not who I am. I am stronger than that moment, and I am focused on my future. I hope the court understands how serious this was and the impact it had on me."
"I hope you both take this time to really think about [sic] what your actions did, not just to me, but to my life. Respectfully, Jordan."
The state prosecutor told the court the attack was not impulsive — and that planning began more than a month before the crime.
"The defendant planned, prepared, recruited, organized, deceived, and executed his criminal actions with heavy, far-reaching consequences to the victim, his family, and friends."
According to the prosecutor, evidence shows Lamb began planning the kidnapping on July 28, 2025 — more than a month before the September 4 attack. The prosecutor said Lamb, a wildland firefighter, acquired a van not connected to him, zip ties, a taser, and bags, and used social media and text messages to communicate with at least one person who was completely unaware of what Lamb was actually planning. The prosecutor said those messages continued all the way up to the day of the crime.
The prosecutor told the court the motive was jealousy. Lamb had initially denied having intimate feelings for Carrillo's girlfriend at the time, but ultimately admitted to it in the pre-sentence investigation. The prosecutor pointed to an Apple note found on page 158 of the pre-sentence report, written by Lamb on August 22, in which he wrote a prayer asking God to bless him and a woman and expressed hope that they would soon be in a relationship and eventually married.
"It shows exactly what his motivation was. Jealousy. And wanting to get a rival out of the way," the prosecutor said.
The prosecutor described the attack in detail — telling the court that Lamb lured Carrillo through another unwitting party to a deserted area, where he tased him, bound his hands and feet, put a bag over him, and beat him for over an hour. The prosecutor said Carrillo was also forced to make calls and send text messages falsely explaining his whereabouts to family members, and that Lamb and Larson threatened to kill Carrillo, his sister, his mother, and other family members if he reported the crime.
"Using electronic current on somebody can cause catastrophic damage to their mind, their body. He put that victim's life in danger," the prosecutor said.
The prosecutor said Carrillo feared he would be shot in the back as he drove away and called it fortunate that no one died.
The prosecutor also noted that Carrillo showed courage by reporting the attack to law enforcement despite the threats and by returning to testify at a preliminary hearing, where he was forced to relive the trauma.
"This crime was not a crime of someone in mental distress," the prosecutor said, adding that text and social media messages showed Lamb was experiencing work-related exhaustion at the time — not a mental health crisis — and that millions of people suffer from depression and anxiety without planning and executing a kidnapping.
The prosecutor argued against probation or retained jurisdiction for Lamb, saying neither would adequately protect the community or reflect the severity of his actions.
"Probation does not send the message, and it does not protect our community. It does not deter people in our community from doing this," added the prosecutor.
Devin Larson reprimanded for 'blind loyalty'
In Larson's case, the prosecutor recommended a 2-year fixed, 8-year indeterminate sentence and asked the court to retain jurisdiction. The prosecutor said Larson's pre-sentence report reflected significant minimization and deflection — that Larson focused on the consequences to himself rather than to the victim and did not adequately express how the crime had impacted Carrillo or his family.
"It's as clearly a case of minimization and deflection I've seen in a [pre-sentence investigation], Your Honor," the prosecutor said.
The prosecutor said Larson's loyalty to Lamb, while a positive quality in other contexts, had crossed into criminal conduct — and that Larson had yet to fully grasp that.
"If you let loyalty cause you to do the type of physical violence, the type of trauma on members of our community that the defendant has shown in this case, he's got to get it, that loyalty has its bounds," stated the prosecutor.
Defense counsel for Larson pushed back on the prosecutor's characterization, telling the court he had seen nothing from Larson indicating he was unwilling to accept responsibility. He noted that Larson had not forced Carrillo to endure a preliminary hearing and had pleaded guilty to the charge as filed.
"He is an excellent candidate [for probation] because of his acceptance of his responsibility," defense counsel said.
The defense argued that Lamb’s actions — including holding a taser — influenced Larson’s involvement, and claimed it was speculative to say what anyone would have done in that moment. He described the event as an anomaly in Larson's life, noting he had no prior involvement with the legal system and no history of violence.
"This was a once-in-a-lifetime event," the defense argued.
Defense counsel also called two witnesses. Craig Thomas, who described Larson as essentially his stepson after being with Larson's mother for about 15 and a half years, told the court that Larson's involvement came as a complete shock to the family.
"When we first heard about this, it was very much a shock that he was involved in anything like this because he's not that type of person. I've never known him to be violent in any way," Thomas said.
Thomas described Larson as someone who was deeply loyal to his friends and would show up to help anyone who asked — a quality he said was ultimately misplaced in this case.
"The only thing I can believe is that he misplaced his loyalty in Steen and believing that the story that he was given about the victim was true and that they were just going to go talk to the victim," Thomas said.
The Defense also called Airman Ashton Todd Allen, who appeared by video from Holloman Air Force Base in Alamogordo, New Mexico. Allen said he has known Larson since about first grade and considers him a very close friend.
"He is a very kind person, always helping me in any way he can and anybody else around him that's ever needed help," stated Allen.
Allen said he had never known Larson to be a violent person.
Before his sentence was issued, Larson addressed the court directly, beginning with an apology to Carrillo and his family.
"I would like to also extend my apologies to the victim's family and the victim himself. I know it is not exactly my place, but I'm proud of him for choosing to go into the military. That is very hard for someone to decide to do," Larson said.
Larson acknowledged he had multiple chances to stop what was happening and did not take them: "I do understand that I had several chances, several chances to stop it or leave."
"I wish that I would have been able to see the red flags that were popping up, and I wish I would have acted on them instead of being blindly loyal to someone that I considered a friend. Before it came to an innocent person being harmed," Larson said.
In issuing Larson's sentence, the judge acknowledged that the crime was not his idea and that witnesses described him as a good family member with no history of violence. But she was direct about the seriousness of his participation.
"Friends don't ask you to do criminal conduct. And that's how you tell the difference between who's your friend and who's not. So you allowed yourself to be used."
"There is no right way to do the wrong thing," the judge added.
The judge told Larson that dragging, tasing, tying up, and putting a bag over another person constituted violent conduct — regardless of who initiated it.
"This is not you just saying, 'oh, you do all of it, and I'll just watch.' You were an active participant in harming another human being," the judge said.
The judge also noted that Larson had not called police after leaving the scene, even once he had cell coverage, and had not sought help from another adult.
"Kind of went home and hoped you didn't get caught. That's a lack of character on your part," the judge commented.
The judge said she saw two different people before her — Lamb, who planned the attack, and Larson, who was drawn in — and sentenced them accordingly. She ordered Larson to complete the National Institute of Corrections' Thinking for Change program and aggression replacement therapy on the rider.
"The court is not giving up on you. The court knows you have a lot of family support and you want to be a better person," said the judge. "This is your opportunity to get some more tools and then come back with a plan for probation."
She also noted that if Larson successfully completed probation, he could eventually seek to have the felony reduced to a misdemeanor.
Steen Lamb apologizes to Carillo and his family
Before Lamb's sentence was issued, Lamb addressed the court directly: "I want to start by apologizing to the victim and his family. I take full responsibility for what I did. I want them to know that I deeply regret what I did. I wish to make amends with the victim and his family as well."
"I pray for the success of him and his family. I pray for nothing but happiness and his future," said Lamb. "I made a bad decision by not seeking help in therapy, which led to another bad decision of hurting someone."
He also addressed the broader impact of his actions.
"What I did makes people not trust others, makes people fear, and I understand that, and I take full responsibility for that."
Lamb told the court he had used his time in custody to grow, reflect, and set goals, including completing self-help books and workbooks, reading the Bible, and helping other inmates develop business plans. He said he had set up plans for treatment, therapy, and classes upon release and expressed a desire to continue his education at Boise State University and CWI, with a long-term goal of opening his own automotive shop and giving back to the community.
"This assignment here, though, has truly saved my life. I was going down a path of self-harm and self-destruction. My time of reflection has made me see that I had very serious mental health issues going on at the time, as well as working to the point of exhaustion, which affected my mental stability and my mental ways of thinking, which this action does not at all go how I would think normally," Lamb said. "This crime does not define me. This place does not define me, nor do I want it to."
Judge delivers sentence for Steen Lamb
In issuing Lamb's sentence, the judge said the nature of the crime alone made probation impossible and rejected the framing of the attack as vigilante justice, saying there was no evidence Carrillo had committed any crime.
"It's not even vigilante justice because it's just pure meanness, retribution, some perceived threat— whether it be romantic or otherwise— to harm another individual," the judge said.
The judge went on to say that she did not believe Lamb was a bad person but that his actions required serious consequences.
The judge proceeded to explain that she was granting the rider specifically to allow Lamb to receive front-end mental health treatment and was direct in telling Lamb that completing the rider would not result in probation — the full sentence would be imposed afterward.
"I am not giving up on you, but this type of conduct simply needs to have a very serious response by the courts, and you need to respect the rule of law," the judge concluded.
Video recording was not allowed at Friday's sentencing. Only photos and courtroom audio were approved.
