2 teens facing federal charges for armed carjacking in Goose Island

Two teens are facing federal charges for an armed carjacking last year in the Goose Island neighborhood on the Near North Side.

On Nov. 13, 18-year-old Davontae Jones and 19-year-old Jason Dortch forcibly stole a Jeep Grand Cherokee at gunpoint in the 800 block of North Racine, according to an indictment returned Thursday in U.S. District Court in Chicago and a previous statement from Chicago Police.

Officers pursued Jones and Dortch in the Jeep onto Interstate 290, where the officers’ vehicle crashed near Austin Boulevard in Oak Park and the suspected carjackers abandoned the SUV, police said at the time. The suspects tried to run away, but were taken into custody.

Two officers suffered minor injuries from broken glass during the crash, police said. A gun with an extended clip and stolen property were recovered at the scene.

A police helicopter monitored the chase from above.

Both men are charged with single counts of carjacking, which is punishable by up to 15 years in prison, and using and brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison, prosecutors said. Dortch also faces an additional charge of illegal possession of a firearm by a felon, which is punishable by up to ten years in prison.

“Our office will use every available resource to vigorously pursue and prosecute violent carjackers,” according to a statement from U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois John R. Lausch Jr. “We are committed to working with our state and local law enforcement partners to aggressively fight violent crime and protect Chicago’s neighborhoods from gun offenders.”

Arraignments in federal court in Chicago have yet to be scheduled, prosecutors said.

Jones and Dortch, who both live in the Lawndale neighborhood, were also suspected in a rash of carjackings that happened in the days leading up to their arrest in Novemeber, police said at the time.