On August 5, 2021 Maurice Rakestraw, 31, was sentenced to 264 months in prison for carjacking and related firearms offenses in Charlotte, NC.
The crimes happened on December 5, 2019, Maurice was a passenger in a vehicle that was stopped by officers. Maurice fled from the scene on foot until he encountered his carjacking victims in a parking lot of an apartment complex.
Maurice approached the two adult victims, pointed a firearm at one of them and threatened to kill them if they did not give Maurice the car.
The victims complied and Maurice sped off in the stolen vehicle with the victims’ baby still secured in the car seat. Moments later Maurice crashed the stolen vehicle into a trailer being pulled by a truck, the stolen vehicle then flipped upside down onto its roof.
Maurice crawled out of the car and ran away from the crash scene, leaving the baby in the over turned vehicle. The occupants of the truck were able to pry the vehicle’s door open and remove the baby from the car seat.
Officers spotted Maurice walking along a sidewalk minutes later. An officer attempted to take Maurice into custody but he ran into the woods.
Maurice was apprehended after he was located in the school yard of Merry Oaks International Elementary. Maurice’s gun was found by investigators nearby in the woods. The gun was stolen.
Maurice 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.
