Seat Pleasant Man Sentenced to 15 Years in Prison After Pleading Guilty to Armed Carjacking |
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U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Maryland
April 4, 2014
Threatened to Shoot a Parent in Front of Two Small Children
BALTIMORE—U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz sentenced Tyrone Collington, Jr., age 27, of Seat Pleasant, Maryland, today to 15 years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, after Collington pleaded guilty to carjacking. Judge Motz ordered that the sentence be served concurrent with the seven-year sentence imposed by U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in U.S. v. Collington, Case No. AJT-11-CR-00027, for a carjacking that took place in Fairfax, Virginia.
The sentence and guilty plea were announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Stephen E. Vogt of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; Chief J. Thomas Manger of the Montgomery County Police Department; and Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy.
According to his plea agreement, on June 22, 2010, Collington approached a driver of a Honda Civic parked in the garage of the Westfield Wheaton Plaza Mall in Wheaton, Maryland. The driver was buckling the driver’s two children into their car seats when Collington pointed a semi-automatic gun at the driver and stated, “If you don’t want to be shot in front of your kids, give me your keys.” The driver complied, and Collington drove off after giving the driver sufficient time to remove the children from the car. Montgomery County Police responded to the scene but did not locate Collington.
A couple days later on June 24, Collington approached a driver of a BMW convertible in the parking lot at the University Mall in Fairfax, Virginia. Collington pointed the same gun at the driver, racked the slide, and demanded the car keys. The driver complied. After a couple minutes of trying to start the BMW and failing, Collington left and drove away with another passenger in the Honda Civic he had previously stolen.
The driver of the BMW pursued Collington. Shortly thereafter, the driver caught the attention of a Virginia State Trooper who joined the chase. Collington and his passenger eventually abandoned the Honda Civic and escaped on foot. A subsequent search of the Honda Civic revealed a cell phone, GPS devices, clothing, and a Maryland driver’s license, all belonging to Collington. Montgomery County Police detectives also found latent fingerprints inside the car belonging to Collington.
Collington was arrested on July 1, 2010, at his residence. Officers seized the gun he used in both carjackings from his bedroom closet.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein commended the FBI, Montgomery County Police Department, and Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office for their work in the investigation and thanked the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia for their assistance in the prosecution of the case. Mr. Rosenstein also thanked Assistant United States Attorney Kelly O’Connell Hayes and Special Assistant United States Attorney Paul Nitze, who prosecuted the case.