WASHINGTON, D.C. – A Washington man has pleaded guilty to assault and weapons charges after pulling a gun on a taxi driver during a 2019 fare dispute, federal prosecutors announced Friday.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, 24-year-old Erick Blanco-Cordova pleaded guilty in D.C. Superior Court to one count of assault with a dangerous weapon and one count of carrying a pistol without a license. Judge Robert Salerno scheduled sentencing for March 18, 2026.
Prosecutors said the incident occurred on November 11, 2019, after Blanco-Cordova and his co-defendant, Lesly Taracena, took a cab from Arlington, Virginia, to Union Station in Washington. When the cab reached the corner of 7th and F Street NW, the pair allegedly exited the vehicle without paying their fare.
When the driver followed them and demanded payment, Taracena pulled a handgun from her pocket and pointed it at the driver while Blanco-Cordova stood beside her. The driver ran away unharmed. Police later stopped the suspects and recovered a .40-caliber Smith & Wesson semi-automatic pistol from Blanco-Cordova.
Blanco-Cordova was arrested in Maryland in March 2025 on unrelated weapons charges and has remained in custody since. His co-defendant, Taracena, was convicted by a jury in April 2025 of multiple offenses, including conspiracy to commit an armed crime of violence and possession of a firearm during a crime of violence. She was sentenced to five years in prison in June 2025.
The case was investigated by the Metropolitan Police Department and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Katerina Qesari.
A Washington man pleaded guilty to assault and weapons charges for pulling a gun on a taxi driver during a 2019 fare dispute near Union Station.
