Maryland Man Sentenced to Seven Years in Prison
In Carjacking at Children’s National Medical Center
Defendant Drove Off With Victim’s Disabled Four-Year-Old Daughter,
Later Abandoned the Girl in Freezing Temperatures

     WASHINGTON - Deandre Robinson, 20, of Landover, Md., was sentenced today to a prison term of seven years for a carjacking last year that took place in the parking garage of the Children’s National Medical Center, in which he drove off with the victim’s disabled four-year-old girl still in a passenger seat, U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. announced.

     Robinson later abandoned the child by putting her underneath a vacant parked car in an outdoor parking lot, in freezing temperatures. Had it not been for a Good Samaritan, who noticed the child on that snowy night, the crime could have had more devastating consequences.

     Robinson pled guilty in October 2011 in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia to a charge of carjacking. The Honorable Robert E. Morin sentenced him today. Upon completion of his prison term, Robinson will be placed on three years of supervised release.

     “It is difficult to imagine anything more terrifying for a parent than watching a carjacker speed off with your four-year-old strapped in the car seat,” said U.S. Attorney Machen. “Today’s prison sentence punishes a criminal who was so intent on stealing a minivan that he was indifferent to a mother’s cries. Our community is safer because this carjacker is behind bars.”

     At the plea hearing last fall, the defendant admitted to a chain of events on February 9, 2011, starting at about 7:10 p.m., when the victim drove her minivan into the parking garage at the Children’s National Medical Center, in the 100 block of Michigan Avenue NW. Robinson had been walking up and down the parking area for minutes beforehand, looking for a potential target. In addition to the victim, the victim’s daughter was inside the minivan at the time. After the victim parked, she started to walk toward the trunk to remove a stroller. While she was doing this, her daughter remained inside the minivan, buckled into her car seat.

     As the victim was standing at the back of her minivan, Robinson approached her and demanded her keys, lunging at her. The victim resisted, and tried to keep her car keys away from him. Ultimately, after a brief struggle, Robinson was able to grab the car keys.

     The victim yelled that her child was still in the car. Nonetheless, Robinson proceeded to unlock the front driver’s side door, get into the driver’s seat, start the minivan, and drive off, nearly hitting the victim in the process. Robinson drove through the garage, speeding past a kiosk to exit, while the victim ran after her minivan, yelling that her child was in the car and pleading with him not to ride off with the little girl.

     Robinson then drove to a nearby apartment complex, in the 100 block of Franklin Street NW, and parked the minivan in a space in an outdoor parking lot. Subsequently, he took the child out of her car seat and left her underneath a parked car, with nothing to keep her warm. He then got back into the minivan and drove off, toward Maryland.

     A short while later, police officers in Prince George’s County, Maryland, saw Robinson driving the stolen vehicle on Queen’s Chapel Road in Hyattsville. While the officers were pursuing the defendant, he drove to a parking lot, got out of the driver’s seat of the victim’s van, and began to flee on foot. After a brief chase, the officers apprehended him.

     In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Machen praised the work of Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) Detectives Buddy Baylor, Stacey Carey, Eric Schuler, and Manuel Gaffney; Prince George’s County Detectives Lilian Lone, Russell Scott, and Damian Lee, and Prince George’s County officers Thomas Smith, Sean Macaleavey, and Shane Goudreau. He also commended the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Victim Advocate Jennifer Clark, Paralegal Kalisha Johnson-Clark, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Maia L. Miller, from the Fifth District of the Superior Court Felony Major Crimes Section, who prosecuted the matter.

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