Topeka Man Sentenced to Federal Prison For Carjacking, Robbery

TOPEKA, KAN. - A Topeka man was sentenced Wednesday to federal prison for carjacking and robbery, U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom.

Wesley Lavern Harris, Jr., 26, Topeka, Kan., was sentenced to 86 months in federal prison. Harris pleaded guilty to one count of carjacking and one count of commercial robbery. In his plea, he admitted that on June 7, 2015, he took a man’s keys, money and car and left the victim in a bathtub at the Econo Lodge Motel at 2950 S.W. Topeka Blvd. Harris and others had placed an ad on a Web site advertising sexual services in order to lure a victim to a hotel room and rob him. Harris left the motel driving the victim’s 2002 Hyundai Sonata.

In his plea, Harris admitted that on June 8, 2015, he entered the back door of the Heartland Perma Column store at 1841 E. 1450 Road in Lawrence, Kan. He threatened to kill an employee and forced her and another employee to give him money from a box in the front office.

Grissom commended the Topeka Police Department, the Douglas County Sheriff’s Department, the Lawrence Police Department, the FBI and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jared Maag for their work on the case.