A 23-year-old Cleveland man was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for his role in a string of armed carjackings that terrorized victims on Cleveland's West Side over a single 21-hour stretch. Mickey Hodge must also help pay just over $25,000 in restitution to the people he and two co-defendants targeted, and once he's released, he'll spend five years under federal supervision.
U.S. District Judge Patricia Gaughan handed down the sentence, according to Cleveland.com, which reports that Hodge is the first of three men to be sentenced for the crimes carried out on July 15 and 16, 2025. Co-defendants Tayveonn Elliott and Tye Campbell pleaded guilty to two counts of carjacking and two counts of using a firearm during a violent crime, and both are still awaiting their own sentencing dates, per the same report.
The spree began when the group stole a DoorDash driver's 2020 Honda Civic, which had been parked near East 9th Street and Rockwell Avenue in downtown Cleveland. That stolen Civic was then used in the crimes that followed, the outlet notes, as the group moved through Cleveland's West Side over the following hours.
A Night of Gunpoint Confrontations
Investigators say the group confronted a valet parking attendant near the Crowne Plaza hotel downtown, pointing a gun at him before he fled and the crew drove off in a stolen Nissan Altima. Hodge later used the woman's stolen credit cards at two Cleveland clothing stores, the report states. The group also robbed a woman at gunpoint after she left the Tremont Athletic Club and stole her 2024 Toyota RAV4, and targeted a man walking down the street elsewhere during the rampage.
The spree escalated further when Hodge and Elliott carjacked a man at gunpoint in Cleveland's Old Brooklyn neighborhood, making off with his 2021 Ford Explorer, according to the article. One of the stolen vehicles later crashed near West 25th Street and Lorain Avenue in Ohio City as police pursued the group's stolen cars on the West Side, bringing the 21-hour spree to an end with the arrests of Elliott and Hodge.
How the Chase Ended
Those arrests capped a fast-moving law enforcement response. Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Office deputies apprehended Hodge and Elliott on July 16, 2025, as they drove a stolen black Honda Civic from Cleveland's west side to the east side, according to WKYC-TV. Law enforcement recovered three stolen vehicles — a Nissan Altima, a Toyota RAV4 and a Ford Explorer — along with three firearms, cellphones, a key fob and personal property linked to multiple break-ins, the station reported.
The third co-defendant, 19-year-old Tye Campbell, remained at large, and police issued an arrest warrant for him, per the same account. Charges were brought against all three men in the case. The investigation that identified and tracked the suspects was led by the Cleveland Division of Police 2nd and 3rd District Violent Crime Reduction Task Force, working alongside county sheriff's deputies, as Hoodline previously reported.
Elliott had a prior run-in with law enforcement before the carjacking spree. According to the Fairview Park Police Department, he was wanted in February 2025 on a second-degree felony strangulation warrant, and SWAT and hostage negotiation teams responded during an attempted arrest at the time. He was 20 years old at the time of the carjacking spree.
The Case Moves to Federal Court
The federal case against Hodge, Elliott and Campbell is registered as Case No. 1:25-cr-00623, according to PacerMonitor. Judge Gaughan later sentenced Hodge.
Federal carjacking under 18 U.S.C. § 2119 carries a base maximum sentence of 15 years in prison, while brandishing a firearm during a violent crime under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c) mandates a consecutive prison term starting at seven years per count, according to Deandra Grant Law. Those firearm enhancements must run consecutively to the underlying violent crime counts. Hodge ultimately received a 20-year sentence.
Ahead of sentencing, Hodge submitted a letter accepting responsibility and apologizing to those he harmed, according to Cleveland.com. His attorney wrote that Hodge became involved in the offenses seeking what he believed would be easy money. Family members and loved ones asked the court for leniency, citing challenges in Hodge's upbringing and the impact of the April 2025 shooting death of a close friend.
A Familiar Pattern in Federal Court
Hodge's case echoes an earlier Cleveland carjacking prosecution: by July 2025, three Cleveland men had received federal prison terms totaling 24 years in the Northern District of Ohio for a separate 2021 armed carjacking and kidnapping, with their sentences imposed on different dates, as Hoodline reported at the time. Federal prosecutors have continued to lean on carjacking and firearm statutes to pursue lengthy sentences in similar Cleveland cases since then.
The sentencing comes amid broader discussion of crime in Cleveland.
For now, Hodge's 20-year sentence stands as the first resolution in the case, with Elliott and Campbell still awaiting their own day in front of Judge Gaughan.
