Orlando Man Convicted Of Two Counts Of Carjacking

U.S. Attorney’s Office
Middle District of Florida
15 February 2018

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tampa, Florida – United States Attorney Maria Chapa Lopez announces that a federal jury today found Eugene Willis (24, Orlando) guilty of carjacking and brandishing a firearm in relation to a carjacking. He faces a minimum mandatory penalty of seven years, up to life, in federal prison. His sentencing hearing has not yet been set.

Willis was indicted on October 26, 2016, along with two co-conspirators, Sedrick Hamilton and Justin Crumpton.

According to testimony presented at trial, on October 8, 2016, Willis, Hamilton, and Crumpton traveled from Orlando to the Tampa Bay area to commit commercial burglaries. They decided to carjack a victim of his Dodge Charger, after getting the idea from a rap song. After a high-speed chase with law enforcement, they crashed the stolen car and carjacked a second victim of her Kia Optima. The individuals crashed that vehicle as well and fled to a nearby fast food restaurant, where two employees were taken as hostages. Law enforcement ultimately took all three men into custody.

Hamilton and Crumpton previously pleaded guilty for their roles in this case and are currently awaiting sentencing.

This case was investigated by Federal Bureau of Investigation, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, and the Lakeland Police Department. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Carlton C. Gammons.