District Man Sentenced to Nine Years in Prison For Pair of Carjackings in Northwest Washington

            WASHINGTON – Travon Carter, 18, of Washington, D.C., has been sentenced to nine years in prison for a pair of carjackings he committed last year in Northwest Washington, U.S. Attorney Channing D. Phillips announced today.

            Carter pled guilty in April 2017, in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, to two counts of carjacking and two related firearms offenses. He was sentenced on July 13, 2017, by the Honorable Ronna L. Beck. Following his prison term, he will be placed on three years of supervised release.

            According to a proffer of facts submitted at the time of the plea, the first carjacking took place on Oct. 4, 2016, at about 4 a.m. Carter, along with three other individuals, approached a man in the 900 block of Quackenbos Street NW. The victim reported that all four assailants were wearing masks and armed with firearms. At least one of them knocked the victim to the ground. The group stole the victim’s car keys, cellular telephone, and wallet and took off in the victim’s car. The vehicle was found several hours later in the 700 block of Fairmont Street NW.

            The second carjacking took place on Oct. 6, 2016, at about 12:45 a.m., this time in the 1200 block of Sheridan Street NW. Carter and two other individuals approached a woman who had just parked her car. One of Carter’s accomplices was wearing a mask and armed with a firearm. The three demanded the victim’s cellular telephone and car keys and left in her car. They hid the vehicle in a parking lot in the 2500 block of Sherman Avenue NW and then got into another vehicle, driven by a fourth person. Officers with the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) stopped the vehicle within 90 minutes of the carjacking and arrested all four men.

            Carter has been in custody since his arrest.

            In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Phillips commended the work of those who investigated the case from the Metropolitan Police Department. He also expressed appreciation for the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah McClellan, Chief of the Victim/Witness Assistance Unit; Diana Lim, Karina Hernandez, LaJune Thames, M. Laverne Perry, and Katina Adams-Washington, all of the Victim/Witness Assistance Unit; Litigation Technology Specialists Anisha Bhatia, Jeanie Latimore-Brown, Kimberly Smith, and Paul Howell, and former Litigation Technology Specialist Aneela Bhatia;

            Finally, he commended the work of Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael J. Romano and Gregory Rosen, who investigated and prosecuted the matter.