Charlotte Man Is Sentenced To More Than 11 Years For Carjacking And Firearms Offenses

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – U.S. District Judge Frank D. Whitney sentenced Jontez Xavier McLeod, 27, of Charlotte, to 141 months in prison today for carjacking and gun charges, announced Dena J. King, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. Judge Whitney also ordered McLeod to serve three years under court supervision after completing his prison term and to pay restitution to the victim of the carjacking.

Vincent C. Pallozzi, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Charlotte Field Division, and Chief Johnny Jennings of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD) join U.S. Attorney King in making today’s announcement.

According to filed court documents and the sentencing hearing, on the night of January 13, 2021, Jontez Xavier McLeod and his co-defendant, Ricky Lewis Bush, carjacked at gunpoint a female victim identified in court documents as C.K. Court records show that C.K. was exiting her vehicle which was parked at the parking lot of an apartment complex in Charlotte, when McLeod and Bush approached the victim. Bush pointed a firearm at the victim, and the two men grabbed the victim and pulled her from her vehicle.  McLeod and Bush then got into the victim’s car and fled the scene, leaving the victim in the parking lot.

According to court documents, CMPD officers located the victim’s car.  McLeod was driving the vehicle and Bush was in the front passenger seat. When officers attempted to stop the vehicle, the defendants sped off in an attempt to evade the police. CMPD officers eventually pulled over the vehicle and arrested the two men. Over the course of the investigation, law enforcement recovered several “selfie” videos from Bush’s cell phone, taken shortly before and after the carjacking. In one video the defendants are together prior to the carjacking and in a second video McLeod and Bush are together in the victim’s vehicle. In both videos, Bush is brandishing the same firearm used in the carjacking. 

On April 16, 2021, McLeod pleaded guilty to carjacking and aiding and abetting, and brandishing a firearm during and in relation to, and in furtherance of, a crime of violence. He is currently in federal custody and will be transferred to the custody of the federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facility. Bush was previously sentenced to six and a half years in prison after pleading guilty to the same charges. 

The ATF and CMPD investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Taylor G. Stout, of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte, handled the prosecution.