WASHINGTON – A Maryland man who last year stole a car with a 4-year-old disabled child inside, then later abandoned the child underneath a vacant parked car in an outdoor parking lot, was sentenced to seven years in prison on Friday.
Deandre Robinson, 20, of Landover, confessed to the Feb. 9, 2011 crime saying he was walking around a parking garage at the Children’s National Medical Center in D.C. looking for a victim when he saw a mother get out of her minivan and walk toward the trunk — where the mother later said she was going to get out the stroller.
As the mother was standing at the back of her minivan, Robinson confronted her, demanding her keys and lunging at her. After a brief struggle, Robinson took the keys while the mother yelled that her daughter was inside the car, according to a news release.
Robinson then sped off, nearly hitting the mother, and drove past the kiosk at the garage exit. The child was buckled into a car seat in the back.
Robinson then drove to a nearby apartment complex in the 100 block of Franklin Street and took the child and the car seat out of the car and left her underneath another car parked outside in freezing weather without proper clothing to keep her warm. Robinson then took off in the stolen minivan.
Police spotted Robinson in the car a short while later in Prince George’s County. After a brief pursuit, Robinson stopped the car and fled on foot. Police apprehended him.
“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 in a press release. “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.”
Robinson pleaded guilty of carjacking in October. After serving his seven year sentence, Robinson will be on parole for three years.
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