MINNEAPOLIS — Editor's note: The video above originally aired on KARE 11 on March 23, 2022.
A Minneapolis man was sentenced to more than a decade in prison for his role in a series of carjackings across the Twin Cities in 2020 and 2021.
The United States Department of Justice announced on April 20, 2022 that 25-year-old Jeremiah Ironrope was sentenced to 184 months, or just over 15 years, along with three years of supervised release.
Ironrope will also have to pay more than $49,000 in restitution for his involvement in the carjackings.
On Sept. 9, 2021, Ironrope pleaded guilty to one count of car jacking and one count of using, carrying and brandishing a firearm in a relation to a violent crime for violent carjacking in Richfield in 2020.
Ironrope's co-defendant, 26-year-old Krisanne Benjamin, also pleaded guilty to one count of aiding and abetting carjacking on Sept. 7, 2021.
According to the Justice Department, court documents showed that Ironrope and Benjamin pointed a gun at an Audi driver in a Richfield parking lot on Aug. 28, 2020, took the keys and drove away in the car.
The next day, Minnesota State Patrol officers used GPS to locate the stolen Audi, which was being driven by Ironrope and Benjamin. The pair fled from police in the car, which was eventually found in Minneapolis running and unoccupied, partially spray-painted with a 12-gauge shotgun shell under the driver's seat, the Department of Justice said Wednesday.
As part of their guilty pleas, Ironrope and Benjamin also admitted to their involvement in two other carjackings in Maple Grove and St. Paul. In both cases, Ironrope and Benjamin physically assaulted people before stealing their vehicles.
Additionally, Ironrope admitted to two Dec. 2020 carjackings in St. Louis Park and St. Paul.
“This disturbing wave of carjackings throughout the Twin Cities is eroding our overall sense of safety and security,” U.S. Attorney Luger said in a statement. “The U.S. Attorney’s Office is working in close coordination with all levels of law enforcement to bring this trend to an end."
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