MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. — Editor's Note: The video above originally aired on July 15, connected to another carjacker sentencing.
A 37-year-old man will be in prison for the next 25 years after facing armed carjacking and first-degree assault charges in Montgomery County, Maryland.
Leslie Lee pleaded guilty on June 22 to the charges. The first two charges stem from carjacking incidents in November 2021. The assault charge is connected to an unrelated domestic violence incident, according to police.
Officials detail that in the first incident on Nov. 7, Lee noticed a 68-year-old woman alone in a car parked at the Exxon along the 3000 block of Briggs Chaney Road. Police said that while the woman's daughter was inside the store, Lee got into the driver’s seat and ordered her out, then took off with the car and the victims’ belongings inside, all in broad daylight.
View the surveillance footage of the incident below.
A second incident took place on Nov. 8 in a parking lot in the 13900 block of Castle Boulevard in Silver Spring. The 29-year-old male victim was in the driver’s seat of his car when Lee came up and asked him for a ride. When the victim said no, Lee pointed a gun at him and forced him out of the car. Lee then drove off in the victim’s car with stolen items.
"The victims in these carjacking cases described fearing for their lives," State’s Attorney John McCarthy stated. "This is an appropriate sentence as the defendant used fear and intimidation to target victims at random. He also pleaded guilty to an act of domestic violence in a separate matter. He will now be off the streets for a significant period of time.”
Earlier this month, a Maryland car thief ringleader was also sentenced to 25 years in prison. Prosecutors say Marcus Kemp of D.C. recruited buddies in his neighborhood to steal more than $450,000 worth of high-end cars in Chevy Chase.