An 18-year-old who allegedly carjacked a Chicago woman in January while on juvenile probation for another carjacking will now face federal charges. Monte Handley has been facing state robbery and hijacking charges since January, but the US Attorney’s Office in Chicago today announced that a federal grand jury has indicted him in the case.
Handley had an extensive juvenile criminal history when he and an accomplice allegedly pulled up next to a 26-year-old woman and her 1-year-old child on a residential street about a half-mile from Midway Airport on the evening of January 18.
As the woman was taking her child out of the car, Handley pointed a gun at her and her adult companion and threatened to shoot them if they didn’t surrender their property, state prosecutors alleged in January.
After Handley took their valuables, an accomplice stepped out of his car, took Handley’s gun, and drove away with the vehicle he arrived in. Handley allegedly fled in the victim’s car.
Early the next day, Handley drove the victim’s car to a Taco Bell drive-thru on the South Side and tried to rob the cashier, state prosecutors said. Handley allegedly grabbed the employee through the window and ordered him to turn over everything in the register as they engaged in a “tug of war” over a computer monitor. Handley, wearing a ski mask, drove away before getting anything.
Prosecutors said during the January hearing that Handley was adjudicated delinquent as a juvenile last year for aggravated vehicular hijacking, aggravated robbery in 2020, and possession of a stolen motor vehicle in 2020.
The federal grand jury indictment charges Handley with carjacking and using, carrying, and brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence, according to a press release by the US Attorney’s Office in Chicago.
Upon conviction, the carjacking charge carries a sentence of up to 15 years, while the firearm count has a minimum sentence of seven years, the office said.
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