DC man sentenced to 14 years in federal prison for armed robbery, two carjackings
A D.C. man has been sentenced to prison for his role in numerous Maryland crimes last year.
Rashaun Onley, 23, pleaded guilty to armed commercial robbery, carjacking and gun charges, according to a U.S. Attorney’s Office District of Maryland news release Tuesday. He was sentenced to serve 14 years followed by five years of supervised release.
It started on Feb. 5, 2021, with an armed robbery of a convenience store in Silver Spring, Maryland. Onley and a co-defendant, who the Justice Department did not name, entered the store, took some items and approached the counter. Onley grabbed one store employee and struck the employee in the head. Onley then brandished a gun and ordered the store employee and another to open the cash register. Onley and his accomplice took the cash and left.
Later that day around 6 p.m., Onley, the co-defendant, and another person took a Lexus at gunpoint in Silver Spring.
During the carjacking, Onley and the co-defendant approached the driver of the Lexus and Onley said: “I’m gonna blow you up, give me your money and keys.”
Onley and his co-defendant had guns, and the other person was driving a Volkswagen, which had been stolen earlier in the day in Alexandria, Virginia, by three men. It is not clear if Onley and the two others were involved in the Alexandria carjacking.
The co-defendant drove away in the Lexus, while Onley got in the passenger seat of the Volkswagen and fled. The Lexus was later abandoned nearby.
Two minutes after taking the Lexus, Onley and his co-defendant took a Mercedes at gunpoint and fled in the Mercedes SUV.
On the evening of the multiple carjackings, Feb. 5, 2021, D.C. police saw the stolen Volkswagen, and after a pursuit, the occupants of the vehicle bailed out, including the person driving the Volkswagen during the Lexus carjacking, whom police found and arrested. The license plate for the stolen Mercedes was also found a short distance away.
The Mercedes was recovered on Feb. 17, 2021, in front of the co-defendant’s apartment building.
On Feb. 26, 2021, Onley and the co-defendant were arrested in an Arlington, Virginia, hotel room. They were livestreaming and posting on social media about being at a hotel party. Before they were apprehended, the co-defendant threw a bag from the hotel room window that contained two loaded firearms and 21 rounds of .40 caliber ammunition, which law enforcement recovered, the news release said.
Charges against the co-defendant are still pending, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office District of Maryland told WTOP.