Teen sent to prison for hijacking car
By Jim Hagerty
Staff Writer
An 18-year-old Rockford man was sentenced to four years in prison this week for hijacking a car at gunpoint last year.
According to reports from Winnebago County State’s Attorney Joe Bruscato’s office, Carlo’s Jones entered a guilty plea Tuesday, Jan. 18, and was immediately sentenced by Judge Rosemary Collins.
The incident occurred the afternoon of April 24, 2010, near the Montague Branch of the Rockford Public Library,1238 S. Montague Rd.
After surrendering her car to the gunman, the victim dialed 911. She then gave Rockford Police officers a description of the suspect.
The victim later identified Jones out of a photo line-up. Her car was recovered parked on S. Central Avenue the next day.
Jones pleaded guilty to vehicular hijacking and has been remanded to the Illinois Department of Corrections.
Vehicular hijacking is a Class 1 felony and comes with penalties ranging from probation to 15 years behind bars.
Jones could be released after serving two years under the charge’s mandatory two-year supervised release clause.
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One Comment
So where are the other charges? For starters, I’ll take a wild guess and speculate that the criminal used a handgun.
Under Illinois Law, you must be a minimum of 21 years of age to legally own a handgun.
Count 1. Unlawful Use of Weapons (UUW) includes illegal possession of a handgun by a minor. Since he couldn’t buy it legally, it must be either a black market gun, stolen, or borrowed. My guess would be stolen.
Count 2. Possession of stolen merchandise.
Count 3. The use of a gun while committing a felony in Illinois is called Aggravated UUW. Violating the UUW while committing a felony carries a minimum 15 year prison sentence.
So this young man got two years with two knocked off for good behavior. He should have drawn a minimum of 15 years for the UUW, and the Hijacking was worth from probation up to 15 years.
Remember this so that when he kills someone in the next four or five years, we can all ask the question why is this animal still on the street.