Carjacking Leads to 9 1/2 Years in Prison for St. Louis Man

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Catherine E. Perry on Thursday sentenced a St. Louis, Missouri man who stole a car at gunpoint in 2022 to nine and one-half years in prison. 

Demetrius Nettles, 49, pleaded guilty in September to one count of carjacking and one count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence. Nettles admitted approaching a woman in the 4600 block of Dewey Avenue, in the Dutchtown neighborhood, on May 15, 2022. Nettles demanded the victim’s keys before pointing a revolver at her stomach. Nettles then drove off in the woman’s 2020 Hyundai Elantra. Officers with the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department spotted the car on Kingshighway Boulevard at Natural Bridge Avenue and conducted a traffic stop. They then arrested Nettles, who had a loaded Taurus .38 Special revolver in his waistband. 

In a letter to Judge Perry, the victim said she was packing her car to go to a picnic and planned to offer Nettles a sandwich, a bottle of water and a job before noticing the gun pointed at her stomach.

The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and the FBI investigated the case.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Linda Lane prosecuted the case.