Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

Baltimore, Maryland – U.S. District Judge Deborah K. Chasanow sentenced Jonathan Thompson, age 25, of Baltimore, Maryland, to 16 years in prison, followed by five years of supervised release for carjacking and for brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence.  The sentence was imposed on April 25, 2019.

The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Robert K. Hur; Special Agent in Charge Rob Cekada of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Baltimore Field Division; and Commissioner Michael Harrison of the Baltimore Police Department.

“Jonathan Thompson used a gun to commit a carjacking and now faces the reality of 16 years spent in a federal prison with no suspended sentences and no parole - ever,” said U.S. Attorney Robert K. Hur.  “Local, state, and federal law enforcement will not tolerate this type of gun crime that terrorizes our streets.  We are committed to identifying and prosecuting armed criminals to make our communities safer.  To those who would do as this defendant did, I say, please put down the gun.  You will save a life—maybe even your own.”

According to Thompson’s guilty plea, the victim was sitting in her vehicle at the intersection of Ednor and Lakeside Avenues in Baltimore.  Thompson approached the vehicle and ordered the victim out of the vehicle at gunpoint.  Thompson then got into the driver’s side of the vehicle and co-defendant Dominique Chase got into the passenger side of the vehicle and Thompson drove away.  Several minutes later Thompson and Chase switched seats, and Chase continued driving away from the location.

The victim called 911, then spoke with Baltimore Police Department (BPD) officers.  BPD officers located the vehicle later that day.  Chase surrendered to police, but Thompson ran away and hid a loaded firearm as he ran.  Several minutes later, officers located Thompson hiding behind a garbage can and arrested him.  The officers also recovered the firearm that Thompson had hidden.

At the time that Thompson committed this carjacking, he was on probation from a state sentence for robbery with a deadly weapon.  Thompson was released from prison at the end of October 2017.  As a condition of his probation, Thompson was wearing a GPS ankle monitor at that time, which electronically tracked Thompson’s location and corroborated Thompson’s movements during the carjacking.

Dominique Chase, age 25, of Baltimore, previously pleaded guilty to carjacking, and faces a maximum of 15 years in federal prison.  Both defendants remain detained.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone.  Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) is the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts.  PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.

United States Attorney Robert K. Hur commended the ATF and the Baltimore Police Department for their work in the investigation.  Mr. Hur thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Matthew DellaBetta and Anatoly Smolkin, who are prosecuting the case.

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