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Press Release

Chicago Man Sentenced to More Than 12 Years for Carjacking and Weapons Offenses

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of Illinois

CHICAGO — A Chicago man who carjacked a vehicle at gunpoint and discharged the firearm in the city’s Uptown neighborhood was sentenced yesterday to 150 months in federal prison.

On the afternoon of July 28, 2020, MICHAEL C. PEARSON, 19, forcibly took a 2006 Buick Lucerne from two victims in the Uptown neighborhood of Chicago.  During the carjacking, Pearson fired a pistol in the direction of a passenger of the vehicle.

Pearson pleaded guilty earlier this year to carjacking and weapons offenses. U.S. District Judge John F. Kness on Monday imposed the prison sentence in federal court in Chicago.

The sentence was announced by John R. Lausch, Jr., United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; Emmerson Buie, Jr., Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago office of the FBI; and David Brown, Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department.  Valuable assistance was provided by the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office.

“Carjackers have terrorized the city of Chicago and its surrounding suburbs for the past few years,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Albert Berry III argued in the government’s sentencing memorandum. “The community as a whole – victims, witnesses, society, and perpetrators – need to know that the federal system takes the crime of carjacking seriously and will justly punish those that commit the heinous offense.”

According to evidence in the case, Pearson and his associate pointed a firearm at the owner of the Buick and took her keys. Pearson’s associate got into the driver’s seat and drove away, with Pearson in the front seat and a victim in the back seat. Pearson fired the pistol in the direction of the victim. The bullet missed the victim and struck the roof of the Buick. Pearson’s associate crashed the vehicle and Pearson ran from the vehicle.

Updated September 14, 2021

Topic
Firearms Offenses