ST. LOUIS – A Belleville, Illinois, man appeared in federal court on Thursday and was sentenced for a 2022 carjacking in which he led police on a bi-state pursuit.
Prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri said Jacoby Watts, 21, pleaded guilty in November 2023 to one count of carjacking and one count of possession and brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a violent crime.
The carjacking occurred on Friday, July 29, 2022. Watts said he was part of a group that held up a Domino’s Pizza driver in St. Louis. A juvenile in that group pointed a gun at the driver and Watts stole the driver’s vehicle, a 2019 Dodge Charger.
An Illinois state trooper tried to stop the vehicle that afternoon after receiving a tip from St. Louis police. The trooper tried to pull over the vehicle at 18th and Division streets in East St. Louis before the driver took off, leading to a chase.
Watts led police into downtown St. Louis, where he struck a golf cart on the sidewalk and a parked car near Broadway and Walnut Street. One man was inside the golf cart during the collision.
Police found two ski masks in the stolen car, as well as a loaded .45-caliber Glock 21 pistol that was used in the carjacking. Authorities took five suspects into custody that day, including three juveniles.
A U.S. District Court judge sentenced Watts to 11 years in federal prison.
