United States Attorney
Northern District of Texas

1100 Commerce St., 3rd Fl.
Dallas, Texas 75242-1699

Telephone (214) 659-8600
Fax (214) 767-0978

FEDERAL JURY CONVICTS LOCAL MAN ON
FEDERAL CARJACKING CHARGE

Defendant Also Convicted on Firearms, Conspiracy, and Tampering With Victims Charges

United States Attorney Richard B. Roper announced that following a two-day trial before the Honorable Jorge A. Solis, United States District Judge, a federal jury in Dallas convicted Gary Dale Stanley, Jr., of Kaufman, Texas, on all eight counts of an indictment that charged Stanley and his mother with various charges related to two carjackings in Dallas late last year and the subsequent attempt to threaten the victims in those carjackings.

Stanley was convicted late yesterday on two separate counts of carjacking, using a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence, being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm, two counts tampering with a victim/witness, and two counts of conspiracy to tamper with a victim/witness. Stanley faces up to life imprisonment and a $2 million fine for this conviction. He is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Solis on October 18, 2006.

Stanley’s mother, Margaret Menough, 58, was also charged in the indictment. She has signed documents agreeing to plead guilty to two counts of tampering with a victim/witness. She faces a maximum statutory sentence of 20 years imprisonment and a $500,000.00 fine.

The government presented evidence at trial that on the morning of September 21, 2005, Gary Dale Stanley, Jr., a convicted felon and self-professed white supremacist, began a robbery spree in Rowlett, Texas, committing two carjackings, one using a loaded pistol. Minutes after attempting to rob a Rowlett woman of money at gunpoint as she sat in her vehicle preparing to bring her daughter to school, Stanley then carjacked a Rowlett woman of her vehicle at gunpoint as she prepared to leave for work. The carjacking victim immediately called 911 and informed the authorities of what had just happened to her.

A Rowlett police officer in a marked police unit spotted the vehicle and attempted to stop it. Stanley began a high speed chase and eluded capture; however, he crashed into a utility pole in the process and immediately abandoned the vehicle, with the engine running, and the loaded pistol inside. He then came upon another vehicle, with the keys inside, parked in a nearby driveway and drove away, only to abandon this vehicle in the front yard of another residence a few minutes later.

After jumping fences and running through an alleyway, Stanley confronted his second carjacking victim, a Rowlett school teacher, as she prepared to leave for school, and he took her vehicle by force. The second carjacking victim immediately called 911 and reported the incident. Within a matter of minutes, officers with the Rowlett Police Department intercepted the vehicle and a frightening high-speed chase ensued. Stanley even drove though a school yard to avoid the police and he re-entered the roadway and accelerated to a speed in excess of 90 miles per hours, zipping through school zones and passing school buses. In light of those circumstances, the police terminated the chase. Stanley later abandoned the vehicle in a wooded area in Collin County and stole a bicycle from a nearby residence. A Lavon police officer spotted him and took him into custody after he attempted to avoid the officer on the bicycle.

Stanley was originally indicted in October 2005, for the carjacking and weapons offenses and the case was set for trial in federal court in January 2006. In mid-December 2005, however, the two carjacking victims received threatening telephone calls from a female caller, who informed them that it they did not drop the charges and refuse to testify, that their lives, as well as the lives of their family members, would be in danger. State and federal authorities conducted an investigation and learned that Stanley’s mother, Margaret Menough, was the person who telephoned the victims and threatened them. Specifically, the authorities intercepted telephone calls between Menough and Stanley, who was incarcerated at the time, discussing their plans to threaten and intimidate the victims. In January 2006, charges were added to include victim/witness tampering, as well as conspiracy to commit these offenses, against Stanley and Menough.

U.S. Attorney Roper praised the investigative efforts of the Rowlett Police Department, the Lavon Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Gary Tromblay and Chad Meacham.

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