Department of Justice
For Immediate Release
Man Who Pushed Woman Out of Car Sentenced for Carjacking, Firearm Violation
KANSAS CITY, KAN. - A Kansas City, Kan., man who pointed a gun at a woman and pushed her out a driver’s side door before stealing her car was sentenced Monday to 15 years in federal prison, U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom said today. The sentence is to be served consecutively to a 10-year sentence in another federal case.
John Michael Devosha, 25, Kansas City, Kan., pleaded guilty to one count of carjacking and one count of using a firearm in furtherance of carjacking.
In his plea, he admitted that on Oct. 22, 2013, was already under federal indictment in another case when he wrecked a stolen pickup truck near 59th and Leavenworth Road in Kansas City, Kan. He abandoned the car and fled on foot in search of another car.
A woman who was driving a 2002 Cadillac Deville was stopped in traffic congestion created by the wreck. Devosha used the handle of his gun to break the woman’s front passenger window and enter her car. He pointed a gun at the woman and told her to drive away fast. Before she could do it, he pushed her out the driver’s side door and onto the road, where she stumbled and injured herself. Then he drove away in her car.
Three days later, Pottawatomie Tribal Police arrested him in Jackson County, Kan., after a 45-mile high speed chase on U.S. Highway 75.
Grissom commended the Pottawatomie Tribal Police, he Kansas City, Kan., Police Department, the Bureau Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Erin Tomasic, as well as agencies that participated in the arrest including officers from Brown, Jefferson and Jackson counties, as well as police from Holton and Sabetha and the Kickapoo and Sac and Fox tribes.
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