District Man Receives Youth Rehabilitation Act Sentence for Carjacking at Gas Station Publisher: U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Columbia Dateline: Washington, D.C. Date: 5 March 2024 Subjects: American Government , Crime, Fuel Stations

            WASHINGTON – Adam West, 19, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced on March 1, 2024, in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, to 4 ½ years in prison for carjacking, announced U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves and Chief Pamela Smith, of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).  Over the government’s objection, West was sentenced under the Youth Rehabilitation Act, which permitted the Court to issue a sentence below the mandatory minimum of seven years.

            On December 14, 2023, West pleaded guilty to carjacking, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of seven years’ incarceration. During the plea hearing, West admitted that he carjacked the victim while he was at a Northeast Washington D.C. gas station. West further acknowledged that he approached the victim, who was seated in his car, and demanded that he get out of his car while patting his waistband, to suggest that he was armed. When the victim got out with his hands up, West took the key fob out of the victim’s pocket and drove off.

            MPD responded immediately, and used the MPD helicopter to track the stolen vehicle. Shortly thereafter, Seat Pleasant, Maryland, Police Department officers spotted the carjacked vehicle and initiated pursuit. West drove back into Northeast D.C., where he drove over a median, and then onto a sidewalk in the 300 block of 20th Street Northeast, where the car was disabled. Thereafter, Seat Pleasant officers apprehended West and the District’s MPD officers placed him under arrest.

            The government asked for eight years’ incarceration, a sentence within the applicable guidelines range and one year above the mandatory minimum. The government opposed imposition of the Youth Rehabilitation Act.  The Honorable Errol Arthur sentenced West under the Youth Rehabilitation Act to serve a term of 4 ½ years’ incarceration, with an additional 1 ½ years suspended and a two-year period of probation.

            In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Graves and Chief Smith commended the work of those who investigated the case from the Metropolitan Police Department. They also acknowledged the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Assistant U.S. Attorney David “Will” Lawrence, who investigated and prosecuted the case.

Updated March 5, 2024

Press Release Number: 24-204