Juvenile Carjacker Sentenced to 84 Months in Prison
St. Louis, MO – Timothy Blassingame, 19, of Belleville, IL, was sentenced to 84 months in prison for armed carjacking. Blassingame appeared today before U.S. District Judge Ronnie L. White.
According to court documents, on May 31, 2018, at approximately 4:30 p.m., victim R.W. was sitting in his 2003 Trailblazer at the BP station at 1401 Chouteau Avenue in the City of St. Louis. Timothy Blassingame and another male, Andre King, approached R.W. King pointed a revolver at R.W. and ordered R.W. out of the vehicle. Blassingame and King took R.W.’s cell phone and drove off in the Trailblazer.
Later that evening, East St. Louis Illinois police observed the stolen Trailblazer and attempted to stop it. Blassingame and King led police on a high-speed pursuit from East St. Louis, Illinois into St. Louis, Missouri. They also rammed a police car during the pursuit, which ended after the Trailblazer crashed near Jennings Station Road in North St. Louis County. Both Blassingame and King attempted then flee on foot but were eventually apprehended by police. Blassingame was 17 years old at the time he committed these crimes.
Blassingame pleaded guilty in July to one count of carjacking and another count of brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence. This prosecution and 84-month sentence were part of a coordinated effort by the United States Attorneys’ Offices for the Eastern District of Missouri and Southern District of Illinois. More specifically, Blassingame’s sentence was ordered to be served consecutively to any sentence imposed in the Southern District of Illinois. Those proceedings, which charge Blassingame and King with interstate transportation of a stolen vehicle and armed robbery, remain on going.
“To the young people in our community, know that you have a choice when it comes to guns: Pick one up or put it down. We want you to put it down,” said United States Attorney Jeff Jensen after today’s sentencing. “In the last two years, this office has doubled the number of federal prosecutions of individuals who have chosen to pick-up firearms and commit violent acts with them. This specifically includes increased prosecution of juveniles.”
Jensen continued, “If you choose to take other people’s property and endanger the citizens of this district by using a firearm, federal prosecution, a lengthy prison sentence far away from the Saint Louis area, and intense court supervision afterwards awaits.”
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; Saint Louis Metropolitan Police Department; Saint Louis County Police Department; North County Police Cooperative; Illinois State Police; and East Saint Louis Police Department investigated this case which was prosecuted in cooperation with the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Illinois.
###
