A Chicago man was sentenced to 13 years in prison on Tuesday after participating in two carjackings while wearing an ankle monitor for a pending felony gun case.
In early 2024, prosecutors petitioned a judge to imprison then-19-year-old Eric Smith as a public safety danger, claiming he was apprehended with a loaded Micro Draco AK-47 weapon after fleeing the wreckage of a crashed, stolen car. Judge Charles Beach, who was just appointed as the next Chief Judge of Cook County, denied the request and instead imposed a curfew and electronic monitoring.
That ankle monitor came in handy for Chicago cops a few weeks later. They used its GPS information to connect Smith to two armed carjackings that occurred while he was supposed to be under house arrest.
Chicago police issued a community advisory regarding four recent carjackings in the Hyde Park neighborhood, which detectives linked to the same group of suspects. Up to four masked guys exited a vehicle and targeted victims who were near or inside cars. According to the alert, the group showed pistols and demanded the victims’ wallets and phones before driving away in their vehicles.
According to officials, Smith drove the crew’s getaway car during two of the crimes: one in the 5200 block of South Cottage Grove Avenue at 2 a.m. on March 24, 2024, and another in the 1500 block of East 55th Street about 15 minutes later.
Police eventually identified Smith as the driver of a Toyota Camry stolen during one of the hijackings. According to his arrest report, officers went to his house and discovered the stolen vehicle in an alley, still running with the keys in the ignition.
Officers observed Smith inside the house, still wearing his ankle monitor. According to the complaint, Cook County’s home confinement unit confirmed that his device was present during both carjackings when they occurred.
According to court documents, Smith pled guilty on Tuesday to two charges of aggravated vehicular hijacking and got concurrent 11-year sentences from Judge Tyria Walton. He also pleaded guilty to aggravated unlawful use of a weapon in the gun case, which resulted in electronic monitoring. Walton sentenced him to a consecutive two-year prison sentence for that offense.
With good behavior, his 13-year sentence will be reduced by around half.
In addition to the gun case, Smith was released on two other charges: a minor stolen car case for which he was on probation and a separate vehicular trespassing allegation.
According to court records, Smith was charged three times in 2023 with criminal trespass to automobiles, which is a crime filed when someone is accused of being inside a car without permission. Prosecutors dropped a case filed on January 12, 2023, just eight days later. A case initiated on February 6, 2023, was dismissed three weeks later. A complaint filed on October 17, 2023 was dismissed on November 20.
Leave a Comment