Three of four men convicted in a spate of 2022 carjackings and armed robberies have been sentenced by a federal judge, according to the U.S. attorney’s office for the Northern District of Illinois.
This week, federal judges sentenced Tyler Oates-Nelson, 29, to 15 years; and Davario McDowell, 25, to 18 years in federal prison, according to prosecutors. Two weeks ago, Damandre Henley, 28, was sentenced to 22 years; and Dwight Hansberry, 31, is scheduled to be sentenced March 20.
All four pleaded guilty to federal carjacking and armed robbery charges last fall, according to court documents.
When they were initially charged in March 2023, the four were accused of stealing a car at gunpoint in the 800 block of West Erie Street in West Town on Sept. 28, 2022. Prosecutors later discovered they committed four other carjackings.
The men had driven to the West Town neighborhood in Oates-Nelson’s vehicle around 11:30 p.m., and Henley, Hansberry and McDowell pointed guns at the driver of a Volkswagen Tiguan with an infant in a rear car seat while ordering them out of the vehicle, according to court documents. One of them patted down the driver, taking a registered handgun, before the driver removed the infant from the car and the four drove away with the stolen vehicle.
In the next 10 minutes, they committed two armed robberies in the 2600 block of West Lawrence Avenue in Lincoln Square and in the 4600 block of North Rockwell Street in Ravenswood, pointing guns at victims before robbing them.
The next day, they went to a 7-Eleven in the 2900 block of West Montrose Avenue in Albany Park and pulled a gun on the clerk working there, according to court documents. They forced him into a back room and hit him in the head with a weapon — causing him to bleed “profusely” — before stealing liquor and cigarettes, and grabbing cash from the register.
A short time later, the group encountered Chicago police officers and fled before being arrested, according to court documents. Officers recovered $560 in cash and three 9mm pistols, along with a tracking device from the 7-Eleven among merchandise they had taken from the store.