Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog
A Montgomery County man was arrested over the weekend in North Carolina after he allegedly stole an 87-year-old Veteran’s car with his dog inside. Reports indicate that the defendant forcibly took the victim’s keys from his pocket before stealing his car and dog from the parking lot of a Pennsylvania retail store. Pennsylvania authorities charged the defendant with carjacking and theft and had been searching for him for over a week before he surfaced more than 500 miles away. North Carolina authorities received a call about a suspicious Ford Focus with Pennsylvania plates and as they encountered the suspect vehicle it become clear that the car was stolen. After attempting a traffic stop the defendant sped away, allegedly reaching speeds of more than 100 mph on Interstate 95 before crashing from police executed a PIT maneuver. The PIT maneuver is also known as tactical vehicle intervention and is an effective but controversial method for police to disable a fleeing vehicle by forcing it into a spin. Luckily there were no injuries from the high-speed chase, but North Carolina officers did allege the defendant intentionally rammed a police vehicle. As a result, the defendant was charged with assault with a deadly weapon along with felony hit and run and reckless driving. He is currently incarcerated in North Carolina and will eventually be extradited to Pennsylvania and ultimately Maryland.
It turns out that the defendant has numerous criminal contacts within Maryland and was recently incarcerated at the Montgomery County Detention Center just weeks before this multi-state crime spree that left at 87-year-old Vet without his pet and sidekick. The defendant was placed on probation in Frederick County for unauthorized removal of a motor vehicle this past March. His probation judge issued a violation of probation bench warrant in July and then he was arrested in August for theft and false statement to a law enforcement officer. Despite the VOP warrant and the new pending case he was released by a Montgomery County District Court judge on an unsecured bail. Three weeks after his release he received another criminal charge for theft but was issued a citation and never arrested. The alleged carjacking in Pennsylvania occurred just 4 days after the theft citation.
The defendant may not face a Maryland judge for months or even years as it seems his situations in North Carolina and Pennsylvania are far more serious. He will most likely miss his three court dates in Maryland and be issued failure to appear bench warrants. The warrants will serve as detainers and Maryland will be notified before he is released from any sentences served out-of-state. When he was incarcerated in Montgomery County back in August the defendant certainly had a valid argument for release on the violation of probation and the theft charge. Neither of the cases were violent in nature and the bail review judge could never have predicted the defendant would make the jump from theft to carjacking and aggravated assault in a matter of weeks. Nevertheless, these are the kind of cases that judges hate and are a large reason why so many defendants are held without bail at the district court level.
The Blog will continue to follow this case and may post a follow up article in the future, but it could be a while before anything is decided regarding the carjacking case and the matters in Maryland. If you have or family member has been arrested or charged with a crime, contact state and federal criminal defense attorney Benjamin Herbst anytime for a free consultation at 410-207-2598. Benjamin handles bail reviews, warrant recall motions and charges such as motor vehicle theft, robbery, assault, carjacking and fleeing law enforcement in all Maryland jurisdictions. He is also an experienced juvenile lawyer who fights to preserve the futures of all juveniles charged with crimes.
Resources:
Man accused of stealing Lucky the dog from 87-year-old Pennsylvania man arrested in North Carolina, cbsnews.com.