An 18-year-old is accused of driving a freshly-hijacked Uber vehicle last week while on juvenile probation for robbery and with two carjacking cases and a gun case pending in juvenile court. A judge told him he could go home on electronic monitoring by posting a $200 deposit.
So far, Marcus Jones hasn’t raised the cash.
Last Tuesday, the Uber driver received a pick-up order from an account bearing a woman’s name. When he arrived, three men got into his car, and he took them to their destination. As they arrived, one of the passengers reached into the front and turned the car off by pushing its start button, Assistant State’s Attorney Joseph DiBella said.
The men ordered the driver out and demanded his wallet. As he handed his billfold over, one of the offenders reportedly struck him in the head with a silver object that the driver believed was a handgun.
DiBella said the driver laid on the ground and waited for the men to drive away in his Toyota Highlander, then he flagged down a passing CPD patrol car.
Cops located the hijacked vehicle and followed it in a two-hour on-again-off-again pursuit that utilized patrol cars and a police helicopter, DiBella said. They eventually lost sight of it.
A short time later, police were called to the 2600 block of West Roosevelt by a witness who saw a Toyota Highlander riding through a parking lot on its rims. According to DiBella, three men — one of whom was Jones — got out of the car and walked away.
Police stopped the men nearby and the witness identified them as the people who got out of the SUV. Jones was carrying a large, steel, gun-shaped cigarette lighter when cops arrested him, DiBella continued.
The Uber driver allegedly identified the lighter as the object that a carjacker used to hit him in the head, but he could not identify the three suspects as the people who hijacked him.
Jones admitted that he was driving the SUV and said his DNA “would be all over the steering wheel,” DiBella said. Jones allegedly admitted that his girlfriend ordered the fateful Uber ride, too.
Prosecutors charged Jones with possession of a stolen motor vehicle. Two juveniles who were arrested with him face charges in juvenile court.
DiBella told Judge Arthur Willis that Jones, who turned 18 last month, is on juvenile probation for robbery. Jones also has three pending cases in juvenile court: two for carjacking and one for unlawful possession of a firearm, he said.
After hearing the allegations and Jones’ background, Willis set his bail at $2,000. Jones will be allowed to go home on electronic monitoring upon posting a $200 deposit.