CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Editor's note: The video above was first published Dec. 5, 2019.
A Charlotte man who carjacked a vehicle with a baby inside in 2019 was sentenced to 22 years in prison, according to Acting U.S. Attorney William T. Stetzer of the Western District of North Carolina.
Maurice Rakestraw, 31, sentence also stemmed from charges relating to firearms offenses. In addition to his 22-year prison term, Raekstraw will also serve five years under court supervision upon his release.
According to court documents, Rakestraw was a passenger in a car that was stopped by Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department. Rakestraw then ran from the car towards an apartment complex on Farm Pond Lane where he approached two adults before pointing his gun and threatened to kill one of them if the car wasn't given to him.
Rakestraw left the scene with a child strapped into a car seat in the back of the vehicle.
Six minutes later, police said Rakestraw crashed the stolen vehicle into a trailer being pulled by a truck, flipping the vehicle onto its roof.
Rakestraw ran from the scene leaving the trapped baby inside the flipped vehicle. People in the truck were able to pry the vehicle's door open and remove the baby from the car seat, according to evidence presented at the sentencing hearing.
CMPD officers were able to find Rakestraw walking along the sidewalk shortly after the incident. Rakestraw ran into the woods when officers tried to take him into custody. He was eventually caught at Merry Oaks International Academy. Officers found his firearm in a nearby woods. An investigation found that Rakestraw had stolen the firearm during a domestic violence assault two days earlier.
Rakestraw pleaded guilty to carjacking, possession and brandishing of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, possession of a firearm by a felon, and stealing a firearm in November 2020.
Currently, Rakestraw is in federal custody and will be transferred to a federal Bureau of Prisons facility soon.