CHICAGO — Prosecutors have charged a man with robbing and carjacking a rideshare driver after investigators determined that his Uber account was used to order the victim’s fateful ride, according to court records.
The robbery was one of several that targeted rideshare and food service delivery drivers in the same neighborhood during late September and early October.
Jamari Woods, 20, was already on probation for possessing a stolen motor vehicle when he and three accomplices lured a 24-year-old Uber driver to the 4400 block of West Maypole around 10 p.m. on September 30, officials said.
At least one of the men displayed a gun as the group beat and dragged the victim from his 2016 Audi A6, according to the allegations.
Detectives found surveillance video from the pickup location that helped with their investigation. But an even bigger break was when they learned that Woods’ Uber account was used to lure the victim into the carjacking, prosecutors alleged.
Judge Caroline Glennon-Goodman granted a state request to keep Woods in custody pending trial. He’s charged with aggravated vehicular hijacking and armed robbery.
Prosecutors charged another man, Amarion Pope, earlier this month with participating in the carjacking. Officials said Pope, 20, was on juvenile parole, adult parole, and pretrial release at the time of the hijacking.
Neither Pope nor Woods is accused of participating in seven similar robberies that detectives linked to each other in a community alert last month.
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