A Minneapolis man, identified as William Charles Saffold, 21, has been handed down an 87-month prison sentence for a spate of high-stakes carjackings targeting unsuspecting Uber and Lyft drivers, alongside an aggressive assault on a federal officer, U.S. Attorney Andrew M. Luger confirmed.
In a crime spree that terrorized ride-hailing drivers between September and October 2021, Saffold, with his accomplices Shevirio Kavirion Childs-Young, 20, Javeyon Demario Tate, 23, and Eric Harrell Knight, 20, executed a cunning plot where they masqueraded as passengers to set up their victims, upon their arrival the crew, armed and ruthless, hijacked the cars, assaulting drivers with firearms, forcibly taking keys, wallets, and cell phones, and making demands at gunpoint for phone unlock codes they altered the narrative by using those codes to steal funds from the drivers' digital wallets, a costly twist in their string of violent acts.
In an escalation of his disregard for the law, court documents show that Saffold aggravated his legal woes when, on May 11, 2022, he menaced an FBI agent with a pistol, before making a break for it, a move that cemented his fate in the eyes of justice.
Expressing his decision, Judge Katherine M. Menendez put an end to Saffold's run of terror by sentencing him on February 20, 2024, not only incarcerating him for his violent carjacking enterprise but also ensuring he remains under watchful eyes for three years post-release Saffold, who pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to use, carry, and brandish firearms during and in relation to crimes of violence and one count of assaulting a federal officer, will now stare down the barrel of a lengthy prison term instead of brandishing one.
During the proceedings, nods were given to the Minneapolis Police Department and the FBI for their diligent investigative work by U.S. Attorney Luger, who also extended his gratitude towards Uber and Lyft for their full cooperation, thus sealing the fates of Saffold and his criminal cohort, ensuring that justice, through the merited intervention of law enforcement and judicial rigor, rides shotgun on the streets of Minneapolis once more.
