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Carjackers sold stolen vehicles to undercover police, authorities say

2023-10-18 00:00:00.0 华盛顿邮报-华盛顿特区原网页

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The burst of text messages started at 4:40 a.m. Two teenagers, prosecutors contend, were looking for a stolen car to sell.

“Watchu got,” one asked.

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“Nun yet,” the other responded, “but boutta slide round 6:00.”

Days after that April 18 exchange, one of those teens stuck a gun in the chest of the driver of a Toyota Highlander in Northeast Washington, federal prosecutors said in court documents that describe an alleged organized carjacking ring.

“Give me your keys and phone or you will die,” the teen said, according to the court documents.

The assailant immediately drove the stolen Highlander to a garage at an apartment complex on Florida Avenue in Northeast Washington and sold it, along with a carjacked BMW, to a man for a total of $3,800, prosecutors said. The buyer was an undercover D.C. police officer.

Hundreds of carjackings have occurred over the past few years in the D.C. area, part of a crime spike that has instilled fear across the region. While most are taken for joyrides, used in other crimes or stripped for parts, D.C. police said they have seen some other instances in which carjacked vehicles are being sold. Police would not comment directly on the recent case or the use of an undercover sting operation.

D.C.-area carjackings have soared. Here’s where they’re happening.

In the case involving undercover officers, D.C. police said they have arrested three male teenagers, ages 17, 18 and 19, over the past five months. Prosecutors said at least a half-dozen vehicles were sold to officers posing as buyers.

Most of the incidents that are linked to the ring occurred in the spring, authorities said.

Those included an attempted carjacking in Hyattsville, Md., in April, during which a Lyft driver was shot and injured. And in May, authorities said, one of the teens charged in the case carjacked a BMW at gunpoint from a mother as she secured her two young children in the back seat. A short time later, the teen crashed that vehicle into a car in Northwest Washington that had a man and two children inside, authorities said.

Arguing that one of the charged teens should be detained until trial, Joshua Gold, an assistant U.S. attorney for D.C., said in a court filing that “the breadth of the criminal conduct is staggering.” He wrote that the defendant “was profiting off of what was no doubt one of the worst days of these victims’ lives.”

Carjackings in D.C. have soared 108 percent compared with this same time in 2022, according to police statistics. Police report more than 770 have occurred so far this year. Earlier this month, a congressman was among the victims when police said he was carjacked at gunpoint in the Navy Yard area.

Carjacking of congressman renews cries to quell D.C. crime

Speaking to reporters earlier this month, Carlos Heraud, an assistant D.C. police chief overseeing the Investigative Services Bureau, listed factors he thinks are behind the surge in carjackings, including a lack of appropriate consequences, a frequent complaint of police and the mayoral administration. Carjackings are up in many other cities, with the lingering impact of pandemic shutdowns cited as one possible reason.

All three teenagers arrested thus far in connection with the alleged carjacking ring have been ordered detained.

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Jaelen Jordan, 17, of Northwest Washington, was charged as an adult in D.C. Superior Court with two counts of armed carjacking.

Warren Montgomery, 19, of Northwest Washington, has been charged in D.C. Superior Court with one count of armed carjacking and possessing a firearm in a crime of violence.

Cedae Hardy, 18, of Southeast Washington, was indicted by a federal grand jury in U.S. District Court in D.C. on 18 charges that include using a firearm in a crime of violence, carjacking, the sale of stolen vehicles, fraud and car theft.

The attorney representing Montgomery declined to comment. Attorneys for the Jordan and Hardy did not respond to interview requests. Hardy’s attorney, Elizabeth Ann Mullin with the federal public defender’s office in D.C., said in court documents that her client lived in Southeast Washington with his mother, who is a nursing assistant at a retirement home. The letter said Hardy had been enrolled at Luke C. Moore High School in D.C. and was two months shy of earning his diploma when he was arrested.

In the court filing seeking conditional pretrial release, Mullin described her client as having “strong family support” and had no previous criminal convictions. Mullin wrote that prosecutors had failed to “provide clear and convincing evidence” that Hardy would pose a risk if released. She also said no victims identified Hardy as the person who carjacked them, his fingerprints and DNA were not found in any of the carjacked vehicles, and “it does not appear he interacted with an undercover officer.”

Hardy’s mother, grandmother, uncles and aunts co-signed a letter to the federal judge describing the young man as a “remarkable individual with a multitude of talents,” who wrote, designed his own apparel clothing line and composed music. They said he attended a program for at-risk youths that taught him job skills but struggled after the deaths of his grandfather and older brother and with the absence of his father.

The judge rejected Mullin’s arguments, agreeing with the prosecutor, Gold, who portrayed Hardy as one of the principal carjackers. Arguing for detention, Gold filed a lengthy court document with photos of carjacked and crashed vehicles, and of a person authorities said is Hardy in the Florida Avenue garage and posing for a photo holding money and holding firearms.

Prosecutors said they also have text messages involving Hardy discussing how to price stolen vehicles for resale and, on several occasions, texting another person about delivering a vehicle within minutes of a carjacking.

“I’m outside now you can be on your way,” Hardy texted a person at the garage on April 8, prosecutors wrote in court documents. “Let’s get money my boy.”

A few hours later, authorities alleged in court documents, Hardy arrived at the garage with a Mercedes-Benz that police said was taken at gunpoint. A half-hour later, the court documents said a person sent Hardy two $400 payments to his account. The court documents said another person later sold that Mercedes to an undercover D.C. police officer for $1,200.

Federal prosecutors said they found a cellphone taken during a carjacking in Hardy’s girlfriend’s residence. They also said police found a Glock 17 handgun linked to the shooting of the Lyft driver in April when they arrested Hardy.

Gold said Hardy has no prior criminal convictions, though he said the young man had been on pretrial release after being arrested in January by Capitol Police officers who had chased a vehicle that authorities said had been carjacked.

That case gained some attention after police said Hardy fled a collision with a Capitol Police officer, ran away and hid in an outdoor restaurant freezer near Eastern Market on Capitol Hill.

Gold wrote in the detention memo that Hardy “victimizes indiscriminately with the affected individuals in this case alone spanning from a toddler to senior citizens.”

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