Man charged in carjacking of vehicle used in Makiyah Wilson's killing has prior criminal history
DISTRICT HEIGHTS, Md. - A man accused of stealing a car used in the murder of a 10-year-old D.C. girl has a history of armed carjacking.
Court records show 21-year-old Kevin Eugene Jones has been charged three times with carjacking. However, he has spent a very short amount of time in prison.
RELATED: Suspect in carjacking of vehicle used in murder of 10-year-old Makiyah Wilson arrested
Jones stole his first car at gunpoint when he was 17 years old and did it again about a year and a half later. He ended up pleading guilty to both crimes, according to court records.
The first carjacking happened in March 2014 in District Heights, Maryland at around 4 a.m. when a man said he was parking his car. He said two young men came out of a wooded area - one of them armed with a gun. The other suspect was Jones, who had GPS monitoring bracelet on his ankle at the time.
Court documents say Jones was arrested three days later in the District of Columbia after being found with the keys to the stolen car while the car was nearby.
Approximately a year and a half after Jones pleaded guilty to a lesser charge for the first carjacking, he was arrested again in Nov. 2015 at a gas station in Capitol Heights, Maryland. Court records state he and an accomplice pulled a gun on two women and stole their 2006 Infiniti G35 sedan.
That vehicle is almost identical to the one stolen in this past July and was used during the deadly shooting in Northeast D.C. where 10-year-old Makiyah Wilson was killed.
However, court records show Jones has fought hard to keep his freedom. He asked that the first carjacking case be sent to juvenile court and then he pleaded insanity.
Instead, Jones eventually pleaded guilty to unlawful taking of a motor vehicle and was sentenced to 10 years in prison, with all but one year and 205 days suspended. He was released with time served and given four years of probation.
After he was freed, police said Jones pulled off the second carjacking at the Capitol Heights gas station. Court records show Jones was given two more years in prison and was freed in 2017.
In each carjacking case, it appears Jones got a reduced sentence because he was willing to take a plea deal.
On July 1, a woman had her 2008 Infiniti G35 carjacked at gunpoint outside of her Lanham, Maryland home. The victim was pistol whipped during the incident.
"Next thing I know, there is a gentleman standing at my driver's side window telling me to get the F out of my car with a gun pointed to my face," the victim described. "I remember just looking at him like - I'm just shocked. Are you serious? In my head - is this really going on? In front of my house? Then he asks me, 'B****, are you stupid?'
"I turned around to grab my phone. I could care less about the car, but I wanted to be able to call for some type of help. And as I turned my head, he hit me upside the head with the gun. After that, he unlocked the door from the outside, opened the door, yanked me out of my car and tossed me on the ground."
The vehicle was later found abandoned in the Suitland area of Prince George's County.
Jones was arrested Friday for the latest carjacking and other related charges after he was chosen out of a photo lineup by the victim.
D.C. police are trying to determine where the Infiniti was and how it was used during the 16 days between when it was carjacked and Wilson's murder on July 16.