The prices were way too good: a BMW 7 Series sedan for $1,500. A late-model Mercedes SUV for $1,200.
The showroom was the underground parking garage of a luxury apartment building in D.C.
After an undercover police operation, three teenagers have been arrested in an alleged criminal scheme that targeted the drivers of luxury vehicles for armed carjackings in D.C. and Maryland and then marketed the cars on social media.
The victims said they felt terrified when people with guns came out of nowhere and threatened them with death if they didn’t give up their cars.
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“I was parking when someone put a gun to my chest,” one victim said, via an interpreter. “He asked for my keys, my phone, my purse. He stole everything from me.”
Newly released court documents in parallel local and federal prosecutions describe how the carjacked vehicles were taken to the garage of a luxury apartment building at 1326 Florida Avenue NE.
The cars were cleaned up, photographed and offered on Instagram for “appointment-only showings."
The alleged conspirators sought high-dollar vehicles. “No Kias,” read one text between two of the suspects, according to authorities.
According to court documents, undercover D.C. officers arranged to buy three vehicles, which all were carjacked at gunpoint. They were a BMW 7 Series sedan for $1,500, which was carjacked on Jenifer Street NW on April 7; a Mercedes SUV for $1,200, which was carjacked on April 8 in Hyattsville; and a Dodge Challenger for $1,500, which was carjacked on April 9.
The investigation, which included numerous surveillance images, resulted in the arrest of three young people: 18-year-old Cedae Hardy, 17-year-old Jalen Jordan and 18-year-old Warren Montgomery.
Montgomery was arrested Tuesday at an apartment in the 4200 block of Cathedral Avenue NW. A woman who asked not to be identified said she heard commotion on the 10th floor.
“I heard bang, bang, bang, and very big male voices were shouting, ‘Open the door!” she said.
Court documents show detectives went to the building in January to take a DNA sample by mouth from Montgomery in connection with an armed carjacking the previous December.
The arrests come amid a wave of carjackings in the D.C. area, with many committed by teenagers and young adults.
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