Chicago man gets 17-year sentence for Oakbrook Center mall carjacking
A Chicago man was sentenced Friday to 17 years in prison for the armed carjacking of a 67-year-old woman at Oakbrook Center mall.
Darnell Anderson, 29, of the 4800 block of West Monroe Street, pleaded guilty in February to a charge of aggravated vehicular hijacking stemming from the March 28, 2018 carjacking in the shopping center's parking lot.
Authorities said the victim was sitting in her Honda Civic before going to work at the mall that morning when a Toyota Camry, which was reported stolen out of Maywood, blocked her in a parking spot.
A man later identified as Anderson got out of the Camry, opened the victim's driver side door, showed a gun and ordered the victim out, according to DuPage County prosecutors. The woman got out of the car and began to run, but Anderson caught up to her and took her purse before driving off in her Honda, prosecutors said.
Later that day, the stolen Camry was involved in a high-speed chase with Chicago and Illinois State police which ended with a crash. Those involved in the crash informed police that they had bought the car from Anderson, authorities said.
The next day, police serving a search warrant on an unrelated matter at Anderson's home found keys to the stolen Civic, prosecutors said. Anderson was arrested and taken to the Oak Brook Police Department.
"Judge (Jeffrey) MacKay's 17-year sentence sends the message to any would-be carjackers that if you commit such a crime in DuPage County, you will be met with a significant prison sentence if convicted," DuPage County State's Attorney Robert Berlin said.
"This crime was extremely out of character for our community," added Oak Brook Police Chief James Kruger. "The work our officers did with the help of the DuPage County State's Attorney's Office demonstrates that we will not allow violent crimes like this to go unanswered."
Anderson will be required to serve 50% of his sentence before being eligible for parole, officials said.