Man pleads guilty to offense related to carjacking he talked about on Facebook

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    MOBILE, Alabama (WALA) — A Mobile man who used social media to plan a robbery and posted photos of himself with a gun pleaded guilty Friday to a federal gun charge.

Jakendis Jacoby Westry, 19, pleaded guilty to using a firearm during the commission of a felony. He faces a mandatory-minimum sentence of 10 years in prison. Last month, Dorian Lakeith Webb Jr. also pleaded guilty.

The charges arose form a carjacking that occurred on Dec. 22, 2019. According to court records, the victim picked up Westry to negotiate the sale of a 9mm Glock handgun. The plea agreement states that Westry told the victim that the gun was at a home on Baltimore Street. So, the victim drove Westry and another man to Westry’s cousin at the R.V. Taylor housing project.

When they arrived, according to court records, an armed man pointed the barrel of a rifle against the victim’s head and demanded he empty his pockets. Westry, who was in the passenger seat, pointed the Glock at the victim’s head and grabbed his arm.

The victim then got out of the vehicle and ran away. He told authorities he heard three or four gunshots.

Investigators got a search warrant for Westry’s Facebook page and found posts that included an exchange of messages with at least two people mentioning the victim. Those messages identified the victim as “the lick,” or target of the robbery, according to court documents.

Those court records also indicate that Westry’s Facebook page showed pictures of him with a different gun that police recovered when they arrested him a day after the robbery. An off-duty police officer initiated the arrest after recognizing the stolen Nissan because of its distinctive description in the police report.

Westry was inside the back of the parked car outside of a sporting goods store when officers surrounded it.

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