New Orleans Man Sentenced on Carjacking and Weapons Charges
NEW ORLEANS — U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans announced that defendant, DEVIN WEAVER, of New Orleans, was sentenced on December 14, 2022 by U.S. District Court Judge Lance M. Africk to a total term of 168 months. As to Counts 1 and 3, the Court sentenced WEAVER to 84 months of imprisonment, to be served concurrently with each other. As to Count 2, WEAVER was sentenced to a term of 84 months, to be served consecutively to the terms imposed on Counts 1 and 3. Additionally, upon release from imprisonment, Judge Africk ordered that WEAVER be placed on supervised release for a term of 3 years for each of Counts 1, 2, and 3, such terms to run concurrently. Finally, WEAVER was ordered to pay a total of $300 in mandatory special assessment fees for Counts One, Two, and Three of the three-count superseding indictment.
Count One of the superseding indictment charged WEAVER with a carjacking that took place on August 21, 2019, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 2119(1) and 2. Count Two charged him with brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, that is, a carjacking, in violation of Title 18, United States Code Section, 924(c)(1)(A)(ii). Finally, Count Three charged him with being a felon in possession of a firearm, in violation of Title 18, United States Code Sections 922(g)(1), 924(a)(2), and 2. WEAVER was found guilty on all counts after a two-day jury trial.
A jury convicted WEAVER for a carjacking which occurred on August 21, 2019, in New Orleans, LA. As described during the trial, during the carjacking, WEAVER and his co-defendant approached the victim, pointed a gun at her, and demanded her car. New Orleans Police Department responded to the scene and located the victim’s vehicle through her iPhone, which was inside the vehicle when it was taken. Investigators stopped the vehicle at a gas station on the Westbank Expressway approximately 30 minutes after the carjacking. WEAVER’s co-defendant was inside the stolen vehicle along with the victim’s iPhone and a firearm. After reviewing the surveillance footage from the station, investigators learned that WEAVER was inside the store when police arrived. WEAVER fled on foot from the store upon seeing the police vehicles. Several hours later police tracked the victim’s second iPhone to WEAVER’s residence in New Orleans, LA.
This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.
U.S. Attorney Evans praised the work of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, the New Orleans Police Department, and the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Inga Petrovich of the Violent Crime Unit and Assistant United States Attorney Greg Kennedy from the U.S. Attorney's Office.
