CHICAGO — “A very distinct looking individual” has been handed a 12-year sentence for carjacking a man in Lincoln Park last year.
Nicholas Kaehler pleaded guilty to one count of vehicular hijacking before Judge Peggy Chiampas on Wednesday, the day after his 23rd birthday.
On the evening of March 29, 2023, a 23-year-old man was stopped in traffic in the 2300 block of North Lincoln when a white Jeep pulled up behind him.
Kaehler and two accomplices exited the Jeep, and Kaehler knocked on the victim’s window while pointing a revolver at him, prosecutors alleged. The victim surrendered his car to Kaehler, who allegedly drove away with it as one of the other hijackers sat in the passenger seat.
Prosecutors said the victim told police that one of the hijackers wore a balaclava-style ski mask, but they failed to cover distinctive tattoos on their face.
Officers in a Chicago Police Department surveillance room used license plate readers to find the stolen car as it went south on Lake Shore Drive and told patrol officers where to find it.
Kaehler initially pulled over for officers on the drive but sped away as they exited their squad cars. Moments later, Kaehler stopped the vehicle in the 5400 block of South Lake Shore Drive, and he bolted into Hyde Park along with the passenger, officials said. He was still wearing the balaclava with his face tattoos exposed when police arrested him nearby.
During his first court appearance on the charges, Judge Barbara Dawkins noted that, even though Kaehler was wearing a COVID mask as he stood before her, he was “just a very distinct looking individual.”
Barring any misconduct while in prison, Kaehler will be released in the spring of 2029, after serving half his sentence.
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