District Man Sentenced to Prison for Armed Robbery Of Couple at Gas Station in Northwest Washington

            WASHINGTON – Ojahri Hart, 19, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced today to four years in prison for robbing a couple at gunpoint of their car at a gas station in Northwest Washington, U.S. Attorney Channing D. Phillips announced.

            Hart pled guilty in September 2016, in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, to armed robbery. He was sentenced by the Honorable Juliet McKenna. Judge McKenna sentenced Hart to a total of 72 months in prison, but suspended all but 48 months of that time on the condition that he complete three years of supervised probation following his release.

            According to the government’s evidence, Hart and an accomplice, who were both armed with handguns, robbed the couple of their 2002 Cadillac DeVille at 2 a.m. May 20, 2016, at a gas station in the 7000 block of Blair Road NW. The male victim was pumping gas, and the female victim was inside the car. Hart and his accomplice seized the car at gunpoint and rode away.

            The vehicle was found about 10 hours later in the 100 block of Longfellow Street NW, within three or four blocks of the defendant’s home. Two purses were missing from the vehicle, one from inside the car and one from the trunk. Latent fingerprints were recovered from the vehicle. An examination by the Latent Fingerprint Unit of the District of Columbia Department of Forensic Sciences revealed that Hart was the source of a palm print found on the trunk of the vehicle and a fingerprint found on the inside back portion of the driver’s side door handle.

            No one else has been arrested in the investigation.

            In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Phillips commended the work of those who responded to the crime and investigated the case from the Metropolitan Police Department’s Fourth District. He also expressed appreciation for the work performed by the District of Columbia Department of Forensic Sciences. Finally, he acknowledged the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael J. Romano, who investigated and prosecuted the matter.