A 42-year-old man pleaded guilty and was immediately sentenced to three years in prison Friday, Jan. 28 for a violent carjacking of an elderly couple in Lake Forest.

Michael John Wood pleaded guilty to two counts each of carjacking and inflicting injury on an elder adult and a single count of robbery, all felonies. He also admitted sentencing enhancements for the personal use of a deadly weapon, according to court records.

Over the objections of prosecutors, Wood accepted a plea deal from Orange County Superior Court Judge Craig E. Robison.

Wood could have faced up to 14 years and eight months in prison if convicted at trial, according to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.

Wood was arrested in June for the Dec. 20, 2020, attack in Lake Forest. Wood, who was living in Jensen Beach, Florida, was extradited to Orange County in August.

The victims were taking out groceries from their car outside their home when a masked assailant attacked them, prosecutors said.

The woman was pushed down and the man was slashed with a box cutter before the defendant stole their car and wallet, prosecutors said.

Orange County sheriff’s investigators recovered the stolen vehicle on Dec. 31, 2020, and were able to use DNA evidence to link Wood to the carjacking, prosecutors said.

Wood was living in Lake Forest at the time of the attack, prosecutors said.

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