The U.S. Department of Justice announced in a press release that a Danville, Kentucky man who carjacked a vehicle while in Kansas City and forced the vehicle’s owner to accompany him as he drove across the state, was sentenced in federal court Friday.
Robert C. Caldwell, 26 of Danville, was sentenced to 38 years in federal prison without parole for the kidnapping and carjacking. He also received a consecutive sentence of seven years in prison for a firearm violation.
On February 4 of this year, he pleaded guilty to participating in a kidnapping conspiracy, one count of kidnapping, one count of carjacking, one count of using a firearm during a crime of violence and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
The press release stated that Caldwell and a juvenile accomplice robbed and kidnapped a 68-year-old man at gunpoint, attacked a young mother with her infant children, and robbed and kidnapped a 13-year-old child at gunpoint.
http://liarcatchers.com/contact.php
The juvenile has been charged as an adult in state court.
The press release says that Caldwell and his accomplice waited outside of the 68-year-old man’s home and abducted him at gunpoint while he was leaving his home in January 2015.
According to a press release, the victim told law enforcement officers that he was covered with a blanket most of the time and was unable to see the locations where the carjackers attempted to use his debit card. He says he couldn’t remember his PIN number so they weren’t able to get cash, which angered Caldwell and his accomplice.
Caldwell pretended to be on the phone with another accomplice who was holding his wife hostage, which was not true. At one point, they informed the victim that they had killed his wife, which was not true.
According to court documents, they continued to drive and stopped at a drive-through restaurant, where one of the men sat next to the victim and shoved the barrel of the gun into his mouth, breaking his teeth, and told him that he would kill him if he moved.
The press release says that after getting food, they tied his hands together with a bootstrap and had him lying on the floor with a blanket over his face so he couldn’t see. They continued driving and made several stops for purchases with the victim’s credit and debit cards.
Authorities were able to track the victim’s credit and debit cards as the kidnappers used them along I-70 eastbound.
At a rest stop, the victim is said to have untied himself and grabbed a 45-pound weight he found in the car. He then hit both Caldwell and his accomplice in the head and attempted to escape.
He was unsuccessful and was beaten heavily by Caldwell and his accomplice.
The press release states that as they began to drive again, the victim pretended to be knocked out. The driver of the van sat his gun on the floorboard so he could use both hands to steer the vehicle. That is when the 68-year-old man grabbed the handgun and pointed it at his kidnappers. He demanded they pull over. The victim pulled the trigger of the loaded gun when a kidnapper moved toward him. It failed to fire.
Caldwell and his accomplice fled the vehicle with the keys.
The victim also ran from the vehicle and ran down the street in Jennings, Mo., the press release states that the victim saw the carjackers return to the vehicle. His kidnappers drove slowly in his direction, but he hid behind houses until they drove away.
The victim then contacted police.
Caldwell and his accomplice then traveled back to Kentucky where Caldwell crashed the stolen van in Bardstown. The press release says they stole a Mitsubishi car near the scene of the crash.
Court documents say that Caldwell kidnapped a 13-year-old in Windsor on Jan. 27, 2015. The documents say he was wearing a mask and approached the child with a rifle in his hands. He demanded the keys to the Jeep in the driveway.
The child told Caldwell that the keys were in the Jeep. Caldwell forced the child into the Jeep with him and put a blanket over his head, according to court documents.
Caldwell eventually dropped off the child near a store a few miles away.
He was arrested after a high-speed pursuit in the Jeep that involved him getting the Jeep stuck for a short amount of time, then getting the Jeep unstuck and driving it through a crowded parking lot. The chase ended when he drove over an embankment into a creek.
