Demonta King, Armed Carjacking and Armed Robbery, Washington 2022

A Washington D.C. man has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for his role in an armed carjacking and an armed robbery in 2022 and 2024.

Demonta King, 18, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced today in Superior Court for carjacking a taxicab driver at knifepoint in November 2024 and robbing another victim at gunpoint in August 2022.

According to the government’s evidence, on November 18, 2024, in the 5000 block of Fort Totten Drive, NE, King, while armed with a knife, approached the victim, a taxicab driver, who was standing approximately five feet from his taxicab. King announced a robbery and said, ‘Give me everything,’ and ordered the victim to hand over his keys. King then stabbed the victim in the hand causing him to drop the keys. The defendant retrieved the keys and took the victim’s taxicab, phone, driver’s license, bank cards and other personal items. Officers later spotted the victim’s vehicle, which the defendant was driving at a high rate of speed, in the 500 block of Chillum Road in Hyattsville, MD, when he crashed and fled on foot. Police gave chase and stopped the defendant.

In a separate incident, on August 26, 2022, in the 100 Block of Gallatin Street and 1st Place NE, King approached a different victim, brandished a firearm, took the victim’s backpack and cell phone, and then struck the victim in the face with the firearm and fled. King was 16-years-old when he committed this offense and was prosecuted as an adult under Title 16.

U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro announced the sentence, commending the work of those who investigated the case from the Metropolitan Police Department and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jacob Greene prosecuted the case.

King pleaded guilty on April 4, 2025, to one count of armed carjacking and one count of armed robbery. Superior Court Judge Jennifer Di Toro ordered King to serve 15 years in prison to be followed by five years of supervised release and denied King’s request to be sentenced under the Youth Rehabilitation Act. The government sought a 22-year term of incarceration.

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