A Memphis man will spend 211 months in federal prison after a chaotic bank-robbery getaway in a stolen car ended with a crash and the death of the vehicle owner’s dog. Prosecutors said the sentence, roughly 17.5 years, stems from guilty pleas tied to the West Memphis heist and related firearms charges. The dog’s owner and neighbors spent more than a week searching before the pet was finally found dead.
Sentence and federal case
Federal prosecutors said 35-year-old Freddy Najil received his 211-month sentence on June 11 after admitting to charges connected to the robbery and use of a firearm, according to Action News 5. Najil was first indicted in Arkansas on June 6, 2024, and a federal grand jury in Mississippi later returned a six-count indictment on March 4, 2025. He pleaded guilty on November 3, 2025, after agreeing to have those Mississippi counts moved to the Eastern District of Arkansas, the outlet reported.
How the chase unfolded
Investigators said the Infiniti at the heart of the case was stolen from outside a Fresh Market in Midtown Memphis, then used the next day in an armed robbery at a bank in West Memphis. Arkansas State Police and Memphis officers chased the car back across the river until Najil crashed on Riverside Drive in downtown Memphis, where he was taken into custody, according to WVLT.
Legal context
The Department of Justice said Najil’s prior violent-felony and drug convictions triggered an enhanced sentence as an armed career criminal, and prosecutors pointed to multiple earlier robbery and kidnapping convictions, among other offenses, according to DOJ information cited by Action News 5. That record, combined with the firearm enhancements in the latest case, helped drive the lengthy federal prison term.
Owner's grief
Yoshi, described by her owner as a 15-year-old German Shepherd-Husky mix, was eventually located in a median on Jackson Avenue near Macon Road after a 12-day search, local coverage reported. “It just kills my soul that she was in her favorite place to be,” the owner told WVLT, a loss that helped spur neighborhood calls for more cameras and closer watch over the area.
The sentence takes a repeat offender off the streets for nearly two decades, but the case has left a clear mark on Memphis. Residents and business owners say it underscores ongoing worries about car thefts, high-speed pursuits across jurisdictions, and public-safety blind spots between Midtown and the riverfront. Court records and the Justice Department release remain the formal sources for the charging documents and sentencing details.
