Shortly after robbing and carjacking two brothers of their Infiniti G37, Sebastian Perez allegedly recorded himself flashing the car’s license plates and bragging, “We got keys to this b***h!” That social media boast ultimately became, um, key evidence that prosecutors have now leveraged into an eight-year prison sentence for Perez.
On September 21, 2023, the fourth day of Illinois’ cashless bail system, Perez appeared before Judge Linzey Jones on charges of aggravated possession of a stolen motor vehicle and aggravated fleeing from police in Lyons. Jones released him from custody the following day.
Just 53 days later, Perez and another man confronted two brothers as they entered their Infiniti G37 in the 7000 block of South Hermitage and robbed them at gunpoint, prosecutors said. The victims, ages 19 and 20, also lost their wallets, phones, and credit cards during the holdup.
Police located the stolen Infiniti within 24 hours, and Perez was allegedly behind the wheel. But investigators initially lacked enough evidence to prove Perez participated in the armed hijacking itself, prosecutors said. That changed after detectives obtained a search warrant for Perez’s phone.
According to court records, investigators discovered a photo and video timestamped “immediately after” the hijacking that showed Perez inside the Infiniti saying, “We got keys to this b***h!” Officials said the phone search also uncovered text messages in which Perez allegedly tried to sell the car, along with another video showing him holding the Infiniti’s license plates moments after the hijacking. That digital evidence directly linked Perez to the robbery and carjacking, and prosecutors signed off on the charges in 2023.
Perez has now pleaded guilty to aggravated vehicular hijacking with a weapon in exchange for an eight-year prison sentence from Judge Neera Walsh, according to court records. Prosecutors also dropped the stolen motor vehicle case that Perez was on pretrial release for when the hijacking occurred.
In an ironic twist, the 20-year-old carjacking victim’s social media profile photo at the time of the hijacking showed him smiling alongside former Cook County Chief Judge Timothy Evans, a prominent supporter of Illinois bail reform efforts.
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