Brandon Best, Carjacking, Missouri 2022

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Carjacker Sentenced to 96 Months in Prison

A 21-year-old man from Illinois has been sentenced to 96 months in prison for his role in a carjacking that occurred in the Soulard neighborhood of St. Louis, Missouri, in 2022.

Brandon Best, of Cahokia, Illinois, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Ronnie L. White on Wednesday after pleading guilty in April to a carjacking charge and a charge of possessing and brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence.

According to court documents, Best and at least two others drove from East St. Louis to the Soulard neighborhood on the evening of July 11, 2022, to steal cars. Shortly after midnight, a woman walked from a residence to her 2011 Kia Optima. A sedan pulled up, Best got out and ran toward the victim and her car. The victim was able to get in her car and close the door, but Best re-opened the door and either pulled her out or ordered her out as a second carjacker got into the driver’s seat. The second carjacker was armed with a pistol and Best admitted that he knew that fact.

The victim told investigators that the second carjacker pointed the gun at her and that someone told her not to move and demanded her keys. About 15 minutes later, at a gas station roughly one mile away, St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department officers spotted the stolen Kia. Best and the other carjacker fled in the car to Illinois. The chase ended back in St. Louis, where Best got out near Interstate 44 and Jefferson Avenue and ran across the interstate to try and elude officers. He was arrested behind a home with his 9mm pistol nearby.

The case was investigated by the FBI and the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, with Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Dunkel prosecuting the case. 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.

Project Safe Neighborhoods was launched by the Attorney General in 2001, and it has since been a cornerstone of the Department’s violent crime reduction strategy. The program sets focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and it measures the results. By working together, law enforcement agencies and community-based organizations can make a real difference in the lives of citizens.