Three Chicago men have received significant prison sentences for a series of violent carjackings and armed robberies, one involving a vehicle with an infant in the backseat. According to a recent announcement by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois, the convicted individuals, Damandre Henley, Dwight Hasberry, and Tyler Oates-Nelson, committed the crimes during the overnight hours of September 28 and 29, 2022.
The harshest sentence was handed down to Henley, 28, who will spend the next 22 years behind bars for his role in these crimes. On February 11, Judge Manish Shah determined Henley's fate, while Oates-Nelson, 29, received a 15-year sentence just recently on Thursday. McDowell, 25, was sentenced on the previous Wednesday to serve 18 years in federal prison. Hasberry, 31, awaits his sentencing on March 20, 2025. These sentences come after all defendants pleaded guilty last year to charges including federal carjacking, armed robbery, and firearms offenses.
The culprits' spree began with four carjackings on the morning of September 28. Later in the evening, they carjacked a Volkswagen Tiguan in Chicago's West Town neighborhood. The assailants brandished firearms at both the driver and the infant before the driver was able to safely remove the child from the vehicle. Not long after, the same men committed theft in Ravenswood Manor, robbing their victims of personal belongings, and then proceeded to steal cash, cigarettes, and liquor in a brazen robbery of a 7-Eleven convenience store.
Special Agent-in-Charge of the FBI's Chicago Field Office, Douglas S. DePodesta, along with Acting U.S. Attorney Morris Pasqual and Chicago Police Department Superintendent Larry Snelling, announced the sentences. Assistant U.S. Attorney Elie Zenner represented the government throughout the prosecution.
