A man has been sentenced to 40 years in prison for targeting and tracking a casino gambler and then terrorizing the victim's two children.
In 2015, Kevin Carroll put a GPS tracking device on the man's car after watching him win money at the Horseshoe Casino in Baltimore, prosecutors said.
"This is a sophisticated crime. It's a predatory crime, a violent one and one that deserved the sentence that was handed down today," said Ramon Korionoff, spokesman for the Montgomery County State's Attorney's Office.
Carroll and an accomplice eventually went to the man's home in Germantown, Maryland, and ambushed his 14-year-old daughter and 21-year-old son as they entered the home's garage.
Police said Carroll and his accomplice demanded money, pointed guns at the siblings, tied them up with zip ties and put duct tape over the girl's mouth. The intruders took $6,000 in cash.
The daughter testified that three years later, she still has nightmares about the invasion.
"Two young people were assaulted, a home was invaded and the piece of mind was stolen from this family," Korionoff said.
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Prosecutors said the key to solving the crime was a private investigator who unknowingly helped police find the suspect.
"The private investigator who was hired by the wife of the casinogoer put a GPS tracker also on the vehicle and noticed there was a GPS tracker other than his on the vehicle," Korionoff said.
A judge said Thursday that a trail of evidence, including a gun, ammunition, a pager, duct tape and zip ties supported the guilty verdict against Carroll. The judge described Carroll as a major offender and gave him the maximum 40-year sentence that prosecutors requested.
Carroll will be eligible for parole in 20 years.
