DOJ Seal

Department of Justice

U.S. Attorney's Office
Southern District of Ohio

For Immediate Release

Friday, December 4, 2020
David M. DeVillers
, United States Attorney

Judge Convicts Carjacking Defendant Who Fled After Bench Trial

Dayton Man Faces at Least 10 Years and Up to Life in Prison for Using Firearm During Crime of Violence

DAYTON – A federal judge has convicted A. Philip Thomas Christian Daugherty, 25, of Dayton, with using a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence. Daugherty previously pleaded guilty to two other crimes – carjacking and conspiring to commit carjacking – but contested the firearm charge.

Daugherty appeared in court for his final bench trial session on June 17, 2019, and fled from the federal courthouse after having his bond revoked and being told to turn himself in to the United States Marshals.

He was a fugitive for more than four months until he was apprehended in Columbus by the U.S. Marshals Service’s special fugitive apprehension team (SOFAST) in October 2019.

According to court documents and trial testimony, Daugherty was one of four co-conspirators convicted federally for taking part in an armed, violent carjacking in Dayton on July 6, 2018.

Daugherty was indicted by a grand jury in November 2018 and pleaded guilty to the carjacking crimes prior to his bench trial on the gun crime. He faces a mandatory minimum of 10 years and up to life in prison for using a firearm during a crime of violence. That sentence must run consecutively to any sentence imposed for the carjacking.

Congress sets the minimum and maximum statutory sentence. Sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the Court based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors. A sentencing date has not been set yet in this case.

David M. DeVillers, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio; Roland Herndon, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF); and Montgomery County Sheriff Rob Streck announced the verdict handed down by Senior U.S. District Judge Thomas M. Rose. Assistant United States Attorney Dwight K. Keller is representing the United States in this case.

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Columbus Field Division