Illinois Carjacker Sentenced to 96 Months in Prison Publisher: U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Missouri Byline: Robert Patrick Dateline: St. Louis, Missouri Date: 17 July 2024 Subjects: American Government , Crime Topic: Kia Optima

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Ronnie L. White on Wednesday sentenced a man who helped carjack a woman in St. Louis to 96 months in prison. 

Brandon Best, of Cahokia, Illinois, and at least two others drove from East St. Louis to the Soulard neighborhood of St. Louis on the evening of July 11, 2022, to steal cars. Shortly after midnight, a woman walked from a residence to her 2011 Kia Optima. A sedan pulled up, Best got out and ran toward the victim and her car. The victim was able to get in her car and close the door, but Best re-opened the door and either pulled her out or ordered her out as a second carjacker got into the driver’s seat. The second carjacker was armed with a pistol and Best admitted that he knew that fact. 

The victim told investigators that the second carjacker pointed the gun at her and that someone told her not to move and demanded her keys.

About 15 minutes later at a gas station roughly one mile away, St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department officers spotted the stolen Kia. Best and the other carjacker fled in the car to Illinois. The chase ended back in St. Louis, where Best got out near Interstate 44 and Jefferson Avenue and ran across the interstate to try and elude officers. He was arrested behind a home with his 9mm pistol nearby.

Best, 21, pleaded guilty in April to a carjacking charge and a charge of possessing and brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence.

These cases were investigated by the FBI and the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Dunkel prosecuted the case.   

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.

Robert Patrick, Public Affairs Officer, robert.patrick@usdoj.gov.

Updated July 18, 2024